ON THE WATER -- Simple put, he’s just got to swim

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Wearing his “Coach Ted” straw hat and a megaphone in

hand, Ted Bandaruk sent scores of little ones into the wet.

He’s been doing it for 35 years now and, in the process, he’s taught

thousands of Newport Beach children to swim. For the past 25 years, he’s

worked as the pool manager and swim coach for the Harbor View Community

Assn.

Bandaruk’s also the head water polo coach for the Corona del Mar

junior water polo club as well as the Newport Beach aquatics club. And he

does it all while teaching biology at Orange Coast College.

“I could do without it,” he said when asked whether he needs the extra

money. “But people treated me very well. When you’re good to kids,

they’re good to you. It’s all about kids and I like kids. I’ve got three

of my own.”

Bandaruk’s trio includes Dawn, who teaches kindergarten at Henderson

Elementary School. His two sons, 9-year-old Teddy and 7-year-old Jake,

attend the same school and have their older sister watch out for them,

Bandaruk said.

While the whole family spends a lot of time in the water, Teddy and

Jake aren’t always as excited about swimming as their dad.

“Sometimes I ask the boys whether they want to go to the pool with me

and they say, ‘No,”’ he said. “But that’s just fine.”

It doesn’t keep him from his daily routine of swimming two fast-paced

miles in the morning.

“If there is a fountain of youth, I think it’s the swimming pool,” the

54-year-old said. “It makes me feel good.”

Bandaruk can’t remember a time when he didn’t know how to swim. During

his early years, a pool in Ft. Worth, Texas, had to do. But when his

family moved to California, he soon discovered the ocean and surfing.

During his student years at UC Irvine, Bandaruk saw an ad for a

lifeguard position at the Newport Shores Community Assn. He applied and

got the job and used the money to put himself through college.

“I’ve been doing it ever since,” he said. “I just love it.”

He likes the fact that he’s able to touch kids’ lives and points out

that he taught the guys who now work as assistant coaches with him to

swim.

Even during his regular job at the college, he manages to stay close

to his passion and has taught scuba diving and scuba ecology classes in

the past.

Vacations usually involve some form of water, as well. In August, he’s

taking his whole family, which also includes Bandaruk’s wife, Lynn, to

Hawaii for a water polo competition.

During the winter, he heads up to Tahoe to go skiing. That’s also the

only time he misses out on his daily swim.

“Some people have to have their coffee,” he said. “I have to have my

swim.”