Laughlin's Big Pool Enhances Area Youth Swimming Competitiveness

February 8, 2008
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

A mismatched but supportive pair of youth swimming teams thrives in Del Rio thanks to the convictions of a handful of determined parents. They saw a shimmering opportunity at Laughlin Air Force Base to introduce their kids to a sport without precedent here.

Five years ago, Dr. Shamoon Doctor campaigned vigorously to create competition swimming for youth in Del Rio in what he saw as a legitimate and logical bond between San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District and Laughlin Air Force Base.

Doctor’s daughter, Shaleen, was closing in on top rankings in West Virginia when the family moved here so Shamoon could hang out his shingle on Bedell Avenue as Del Rio’s first and only urologist, adding an important dimension of diagnostics and specialized skills to the community and the medical staff of Val Verde Regional Medical Center. But the move came at a heavy price, with no natatorium at which Shaleen could practice, no coach who could hone her aquatic skills.

Doctor found this aspect of the move to Texas an unacceptable and unnecessary price to pay. He relentlessly lobbied SFDRCISD Board of Trustees and brass at Laughlin Air Force Base to create something of a shotgun marriage of local school sports interest and access to a sparkling indoor pool at the spanking new, state-of-the-art Losano Fitness Center on Laughlin. “It took a long time,” said Doctor. “Maybe two-and-a-half or three years, a long time.”

DRHS swimmers begin warm-up laps before practice. Coach Peña says team members often swim 400 yards before settling into practice for specific strokes. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Del Rio High School Swim Team Coach Mary Peña describes the several kinds of support that have come to the athletic program in furtherance of swimming competition, including access to the Losano Fitness Center and creation of the team in response to the urging of Dr. Shamoon Doctor and others. “So now I have to do the walking since I did all that talking,” Peña says of her own pitch to school officials. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

E.J. Peña stretches it out for a backstroke practice start. Peña and teammates Danny De Hoyos, Carl Thrasher and Leah Evans also cross-train for strength and endurance by participating in the Del Rio High School cross country track program. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

In racing dive practice, DRHS senior Lydia Saucedo launches from a diving platform at the Losano Fitness Center pool, joined by teammates Leah Evans and Amber Diaz. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Eventually, school officials agreed to a cooperative agreement with the Air Force, a team was formed, and, in 2006, the first Del Rio High School Swim Team began practice in the six lap lanes and crystalline waters of the Losano Fitness Center pool. Mary Peña doesn’t swim a stroke, and isn’t crazy about the water, but her son, E.J.—as Doctor’s daughter, Shaleen—showed promise, so Peña became a parent sponsor for the fledgling team. Peña is a 1976 graduate of Del Rio High School, and holds a 1981 Bachelor of Education, with a minor in physical education from Sul Ross University, Alpine. In 1996, she earned a Master of Education, also from Sul Ross.

Peña—an effusive, energetic, albeit modest leader—credits support from many quarters for getting her small team into the water. She met Doctor at one of many school board meetings where he made his impassioned pleas to get a team and a pool together. “I was so glad to meet him, because he is such a great person, working hard for this even though his daughter was already graduating and wouldn’t be here to use what he was starting,” Peña said.

At 6:15 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 17, as cold winds whipped against the glass windows of the Losano Fitness Center natatorium as the first “blue norther” of the season blew into Val Verde County, Peña urged six of her team members to ply the waters of the 25-meter pool. “The kids usually do 400-yard warm-ups in laps,” Peña said, lauding the persistence of her young charges to make the most of their opportunity. Considering the nine on the DRHS Swim Team now, Peña commented, “We started the season with 21 over at Buena Vista Park pool when it was warm, but coming in over here on base at six o’clock in the morning really shows the commitment.”

Her first season of competition was encouraging, but not award-winning. “We did good. It was our first year, and they were competing against all the big 5A schools in San Antonio, and it is so tough! Those kids over there train all the time, and I had no idea they had so many natatoriums!” Peña said. “But all the kids here will compete this year. We have a very strong relay team. Very strong. And, you know, in swimming it seems like they’re all in GT [gifted-and-talented program], because they learn so quickly!”

Peña is on a fast track, too. Since she’s not a swimmer, how did she come by coaching skills? “I’m still learning! I had to learn swimming techniques and movements that are not allowed to be sure no one gets disqualified. And when I go to meets, I watch the other coaches, and I listen to what they’re saying to their kids,” Peña said, flashing a contagious smile.

The team returned from district competition Saturday (Jan. 26) at Northside Independent School District, San Antonio. While they didn’t bring home medals, Peña is immensely proud of their performance. Three of the swimmers – Amber Diaz, Danny De Hoyos, and E. J. Peña – have now competed two successive years without being disqualified at the District level in any event. Next year, Diaz will be a returning senior, the first to complete three years in the program.

The Del Rio High School Swim Team has access to the Losano pool four days each week, Monday through Thursday, from 6:10 – 6:55 a.m. “We have to be back on campus and the kids ready for class by 8 a.m.,” Peña said. “But Col. Garrett Thompson, coach of the Del Rio Diamondbacks swim team, lets our kids swim with his team, too. He’s been so good to us about that,” said Peña.

“I appeared before the school board at their meetings and told them there are kids out there who really want to compete at swimming. So now, I have to do the walking since I did all that talking,” Peña said, with another laugh.

Del Rio has a robust and growing non-school swimming team that also enjoys the use of the Losano Fitness Center natatorium. The Del Rio Diamondbacks are a competition group of 24 swimmers ranging in age from 5 to 18 years old. “The average age of our kids is 10,” explained Lt. Col. Garrett Thompson, coach and sponsor of the group. The Diamondbacks are a “parent-owned team, meaning that the finances and club organization [are] managed by a board of directors comprised of the swimmers’ parents,” explains Thompson.

Thompson is deputy commander of the 47th Flying Training Wing Operations Group, and an instructor pilot in T-38 “Talon” jets at Laughlin Air Force Base. He works with three assistant coaches: Paul Kneeskern, Border Patrol agent; Nathan Rought, instructor pilot in the 96th Flying Training Squadron; and Courtni Wicker, spouse of a student pilot.

Thompson has never been far from the water, swimming since age 7, and competing in high school in Cocoa Beach, Fla. He was an All American swimmer, and he pursued the sport during his undergraduate years at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. “I also did some competition in a masters program,” Thompson said. He sees the Diamondbacks as a feeder group to Del Rio High School team membership and league competition.

Thompson commends Peña for her dedication. “My assistant coach, Paul, is not a swimmer either. You know, it really doesn’t matter as long as I’m giving them tips on how to make corrections and give proper direction to the kids. Yes, you need to be knowledgeable, but most of all you need to organize well. Mary [Peña] is actually working up eight meets this year, and that’s quite an accomplishment,” Thompson said.

The Diamondbacks are members of USA Swimming, self-described as “…the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming.” The organization, headquartered at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colo., provides “…programs and services for our members, supporters, affiliates and the interested public,” according to the mission statement. For more information about this organization, see www.usaswimming.org.

Teams in South Texas are organized under South Texas Swimming, Inc., and their Web site, www.stswim.org, includes schedules of meets and time trials, 43 team locations, and contact information. With a membership in USA Swimming, the swimmer’s membership and identification number are transferable to all other membership locations.

Thompson said that the team was founded in 2006 when he was assigned at Laughlin. Patty Gernert, spouse of Lt. Col. Dan Gernert, Laughlin, and Kneeskern founded the group to create a competitive team “to offer [differing] age group kids the opportunity to swim and to inspire them to achieve excellence in the sport of swimming and in life,” Thompson reported. The social mix of the group is diverse, he added, including swimmers from Laughlin families, home-schooled children, private schools, and Del Rio public schools.

Thompson’s philosophy goes beyond swimming speed and dexterity in the pool. “First, I try to give them a good discipline about the sport,” Thompson explained. “You’ve got to learn to get along with people and work out together. Relays and team competitions are based on how individuals do as a team.”

Thompson said the Diamondbacks’ schedule is divided into fall, winter, and summer seasons, with the winter season a mirror of Peña’s high school team season. On his “to do” list now is to find a certified swimming instructor and more members to join the Diamondbacks team. More information about the team may be seen at the developing Web site, www.delriodiamondbacks.com.

Shamoon Doctor looks back on the events that have unfolded as a result of his advocacy with some satisfaction. His daughter, Shaleen, is back in the pool in San Antonio, and working very hard to get back to her full potential.

“She’s on the swim team at Incarnate Word University now. When we left West Virginia she was fast enough to be near national times, but when we came here she lost four years of adequate practice, and now she’s getting back to it,” Doctor said. “The team over there practices three days a week for five hours, at least, and two more days for three hours, I think.”