The Aquabears 25

The summer of my sophomore year of HS I made the jump from the Barracudas to the Walnut Creek Aquabears in the suburban valley. The squad had c 300 kids covering the age-groups to the older elites who were broken into groups, mine distance, which was gnarly but also respected.  I spent the day between practice watching MTV with my new best friends whose silver hair was as bleach-blonde as my own. I fit in perfectly.

The Aquabears' success was driven, in large part, by head coach Mike Troy who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated for winning two gold medals in the '60 Rome Olympics and then a Navy Seal - in short, hard corps. 

Mike sat in a fold-out deck chair under a sun umbrella with his clipboard in the baking heat, legs crossed and flip flops dangling from his toes, asserting himself across the 50m pool.  He was aware of every swimmer's repeats or at least (more importantly) we thought so. 

Mike had his favourites and, on occasion,  he would bark out to one of us that we could have "the geek" (his beautifully preserved 1960s Karmann Ghia automobile) for the weekend if a specific time was held during a set. We went nuts.

It was a fast squad with bronzed HS girls and high standards.  A combo so compelling that I qualified for my first Junior Nationals in the 1500m at 15.

Mike Troy at Heather Farms Aquatic Complex in Walnut Creek in 1983.