Park City Swim Team at the Park City Aquatics Center. Photo: Michele Roepke // TownLift.
PARK CITY, Utah — For 13 hours on Saturday, the Park City Swim Team had an event that was neither a competition nor a fundraiser. The sweet spot in between was the Park City 13, a Swim-A-Thon, just for fun.
PC13 is a team-building event for swimmers ages 12-18 who are legacy and senior program swimmers that lasted from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m., which included many food breaks outside of the pool.
This is the first time Park City Swimming has done an event like this. It was held at the Aquatic Center at the Ecker Hill Middle School facility managed by the Park City School District.
It was challenging for all and designed to help each team work together to score points. The day was intentionally long and had a variety of events to challenge all levels and abilities. “At the end of the day, the event was super fun, and our swimmers left with smiles on their faces,” Head Coach Gadi Shamah told TownLift.
Park City Swim Team at the Park City Aquatics Center. Photo: Michele Roepke // TownLift.
Shamah told TownLift how his first year on the job has been, saying that it’s been great. He couldn’t say enough about how positive this community is and how supportive his swimmers and families stay regarding the rigorous training and meet schedule.
“Our swimmers have not only outperformed but surpassed all my expectations. We have had huge success this year in and out of the water., and we look to keep it going through the summer long course season.”
The idea for the PC13 came about from Gadi, over the years, hearing of other teams doing team events, specifically outside of swimming, and always wanting to do it for his team. He was able to get ideas from other coaches and build their own special event.
Park City School District’ss Park City Aquatics Center at Ecker Hill Middle School. Photo: Michele Roepke // TownLift.
The athletes ended up having more fun than they thought they would.
The events were designed specifically to accomplish certain tasks, some were very physical some required more strategy. “One of my favorite events, was at the end of the night, after 12.5 hours, we started our dodgeball tournament. This was actually incredible to watch. The intensity was very high but the team spirit was even higher. I’m sure you could hear the teams cheering from miles away,” said Shamah.
Coach Shamah and the Park City Swim Team at the Park City Aquatics Center during PC13.
Shamah said his coaching staff has been amazing and gave them a special ‘Thank you!’ acknowledging that they could not do all these things without them. He also said how thankful he is for the support of the Park City Youth Swim Team families and Booster Club.
Treasure Mountain Jr. High student-athlete Teagan Hoffman successfully balances the year-round training of competitive cross country skiing with year-round swimming programming. When in the pool, she typically leads the Park City Swim Team girls in the 100 Breast Stroke amassing at least a baker’s dozen podiums this year including individual and relay events. Hofmann, Shamah, and the team rarely count meet medals though, opting for a more healthy team mentality. She told TownLift, “The PC13 was very fun and amusing. It was really cool meeting and getting to know new people. I definitely got closer to some of my teammates. It was cool to see all the activities the coaches came up with.”
Park City School District’ss Park City Aquatics Center at Ecker Hill Middle School.
Shamah is also the assistant Aquatics Center director, he reminds the community that they are hiring various positions including lifeguards and can’t, in the interest of safety, operate short-staffed forcing periodic pool closures which not only effects the swim team and water polo team but the general public lap time and toddler times as well.
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Park City Swim Team at the Park City Aquatics Center.
The first PC13 worked out well, and they say it will definitely be back next year for the 2nd annual.
I've lived in Park City for 30 years but right off the starting line, my journalism professors expressed plaudits after class for writing more so about the small-town sports in the surrounding mountains than the urban updates they assigned. Therefore, I’m on par punning and penning Parkites' pastimes. Turning high and early through my career, I’ve worked communications for The Olympics, the Paralympics and the Special Olympics. Additionally, there's been National Geographic, Patagonia, NCAA, USA Nordic and the United States Library of Congress, so I guess you could say this ain't my first rodeo.
