Village Stingrays make a splash with new coach
2011 Stingrays coaching team (pictured from left to right) back row: Junior Coach Even Lail, Junior Coach Nick Tinucci, Head Coach Jenny Anderson, Assistant Coach Holly Dawson, Lead Junior Coach Maddie Pluto; front row: Junior Coaches Erin Dooley, Kate South and Quincy Schurr.
Article by Kathy Dunker; photos by Terri Wiebold
The Castle Pines Village Stingrays with brand new coach, Jenny Anderson, had a terrific season in the water. With 153 kids from ages four to 19, they completed their season with five wins and only one loss to the C Division Champion team Clarke Farms Tsunamis.
Anderson grew up in Colorado and started swimming competitively with her summer club at the age of 11. Anderson swam at the University of Northern Colorado as a scholarship athlete and was a four year letter winner. Anderson’s love for kids led her to coach for three seasons for the Boulder Valley Summer Swim League and she was a high school coach for one season.
Anderson firmly believes that the coach is responsible for assisting in the physical, psychological and social development of each athlete, creating mental toughness and building self confidence. She finds that the skills and fundamentals learned through training are reflected through all aspects of a swimmer’s life and therefore are extremely important.
Anderson’s philosophy seems to have worked. The Stingrays placed second overall at their Championships meet and were age group Champions, earning the most points for 9-10 boys, 11-12 boys and 13-14 boys. The team had 40 swimmers qualify for All Stars and had one swimmer, Chris Dawson, who broke the league record in the 200 free.
Anderson remarked, “This was my first year as head coach of a summer team and I loved it! I loved the kids, the team and the community. We really worked hard, had a great coaching staff, made drastic improvements in our swimming ability, and achieved best times all around. Most importantly we had a lot of fun! I hope to be back next year!”
