The Poulsbo Piranhas is a competitive swim team for kids between the ages of 6 and 18 looking to take part in something new. While kids learn proper swimming and stroke techniques, they also compete in high-level competitions and have fun while doing it.
Swimmers compete in meets all over the country; one even qualified for and will be swimming in a zone championship meet in Hawaii this August.
“We’re hoping to qualify a few more in the next couple meets for a zone meet in California the last weekend in June,” said Coach Jerry Johnston.
Johnston has swum his whole life. After receiving a full-ride scholarship and competing at the University of Washington, he accepted a coaching position in Issaquah and coached there for 14 years. His family then moved to Colorado and he worked in real estate for 18 years before realizing how much he missed coaching.
Being back in Washington for seven years, he accepted the coaching position for the Piranhas last fall.
“Since moving back here, my younger kids have really gotten into swimming as well, there are a few out there,” he said.
Along with Johnston’s kids the Piranhas are made up of more than 60 kids, and are hoping to have 80 on the team by fall.
“We started summer swim this year, and that’s cool. Kids can come a few days a week and see if they like it, then join the club in the fall,” Johnston said.
To join, kids can be signed up online or come out to the pool and give it a try. The Piranhas are offering a free, two-week tryout to train with the team and see if they like it.
“It’s a big commitment, but we encourage them to stay in it for a while,” said Johnston. “It takes a bit to get to swimming at the high school level and as they grow stronger, they’ll go even further.”
Many of the Piranhas will be going in to high school this coming fall and Johnston said many have already surpassed the records hanging on the wall in the pool.
“We have a good group of swimmers who will go in and break all the records as freshmen,” said Johnston. “Katherine Andersen swims with the Piranhas, and she has all the records for the Kingston girls team. She’ll be swimming at Linfield College next year.”
Getting kids to the level to swim at college, if that’s what they desire, is a goal that Johnston and the rest of the staff strive for. Johnston said they care less about placing at tournaments, but more about getting better and improving times.
“We want kids to develop. We want to build a consistent team that keeps feeding itself,” he said.
Helping Johnston with these goals are Tom Springer and Mikal Reeves.
Springer was a nationally ranked collegiate swimmer and was the interim head coach before Johnston was hired.
“He’s a great swimmer and could be the head coach if he wanted, but this is just a side job for him,” said Johnston. “Mikal works with the younger and new kids teaching them strokes, and he is great at getting them interested and getting them better very quickly. They are very good at what they do.”
Johnston loves getting to coach this group and wants to keep helping the club grow. If interested, kids should come out and give swimming a try and join the Piranhas program.
“It’s tough and time consuming ,but the kids have fun and want to come to practice,” Johnston said. “We encourage kids to stay at it and they can be really good. It’s a lifelong sport because the only way to get better at swimming, is to swim.”
