Generation H20 helps tradition flow fluidly

The success of the Harbor View and Newport Hills swim teams wouldn’t be possible without many of their veteran swimmers.

They keep the program together in more ways than one.

Each team boasts several swimmers who have come up through the program and are now coaches. They were there all season for the younger swimmers and the team, and they were there on Aug. 5 when Harbor View and Newport Hills finished second and third, respectively, at the South Coast Swim Conference finals.

Newport Hills Killer Whales swimmers past and present who now coach include Taylor Storm, Antonia Pecchia and Julie Mendelson.

For the Harbor View Dolphins, Amy Zucker, Katie Kubas, Tyler Kent, Tom Money and Stephanie Gabert all coached this season. All of them also swam, except for Kubas, who is a program alumna.

Kubas, who started swimming for Harbor View when she was 5 years old, attends UC Santa Barbara and plays water polo for the Gauchos. Like most of the program’s coaches, she attended Corona del Mar High, from which she graduated in 2005.

Harbor View Coach Ted Bandaruk also coaches in the Corona del Mar junior water polo program. This year, he started a new pre-junior water polo program that was coached by Kubas and Kent.

“It takes a lot of time and patience,” said Kubas, 19. “Sometimes, you get drained from coaching. But when I was younger, I idolized my coaches. So now, I try to be a role model to the little kids as much as I can.”

That’s true on the other side of the aisle at Newport Hills as well.

Storm, also a 2005 CdM graduate, now attends Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash. But, in his final year of eligibility with the Killer Whales, he decided he also wanted to coach.

Storm, 19, ended up as the 7- and 8-year-old boys’ age-group coach.

“I really got to know the kids well and play with them,” Storm said. “It was one of the things I loved the most about the job. I’ve been part of Newport Hills for so long, and [the program has] been so good to me, putting in the extra hours was good for me.”

Zucker, who graduated from CdM High in June, has put in plenty of extra hours for the Harbor View program. With Harbor View since she was 4, Zucker has been in charge of the pollywog program [for children ages 2 to 5] for four years. She has also spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach.

She said between private swim lessons, Harbor View practice and running the pollywog program, she typically works from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the summer. But the time goes by fast, thanks largely to her co-workers.

“We’re all best of friends,” said Zucker, 18, who will attend Indiana University in the fall. “That’s why coaching is so much fun — the kids are amazing, and the coaches are amazing as well. The relationships are life-long ones, not just for four years.”

Many of the Harbor View swimmers said they wouldn’t be where they are now without Bandaruk. Since he coaches both youth swimming and water polo, and most of the CdM athletes play both sports, he gave many of them the guidance to start their careers.

Coaching, then, is a way for them to give back — and a nice summer job, as well.

“Not all of the 15- to 18-year-old kids in our program are dynamite swimmers, but many are just dynamite kids,” Bandaruk said. “They end up coaching and lifeguarding so much, and they give back to the young kids. You’re lucky if your sons and daughters turn out as good as that group did.”

Kent, who also just graduated from CdM High, will be attending UCSB in the fall. In addition to coaching and swimming this past season, he was the head lifeguard at the Harbor View pool.

Kent, now 18, has been with the Harbor View Dolphins program since he was 7.

“When I was younger, you were kind of in awe of the coaches,” he said. “Now, being a coach and a lifeguard, you get to meet every little kid. It’s great knowing that the little guys are the future of the program, and we’re building that future.

“Coaching’s so fun because you see them progress,” Kent said. “One kid, we started the season and he couldn’t get in the water without crying. At the end of the year, he could do a lap by himself, no problem.”

Newport Hills’ Patrick White has been an intern coach for three years, although he plans to be an assistant coach in future seasons. White, one of the Killer Whales’ best swimmers, will be a junior at Mater Dei High.

“Being older, I think the valuable part is the people I meet through Newport Hills and the relationships I make with the kids,” White said. “And it’s fun to let the younger kids have someone to look up to. I get a lot out of that.”

Zucker said that since many of the swimmers from both Harbor View and Newport Hills ultimately go on to attend Corona del Mar High, the neighborhood rivalry takes on a new meaning as the swimmers get older.

“It’s a fun rivalry, and there’s no tension, because you walk off the pool deck and you’re teammates,” Zucker said. “It has been so much fun, and I look forward to coaching again next year.”

Kubas views the job a bit differently.

“What other summer job can you go get tanned and play with little kids?,” she said. “After college, I plan on going to graduate school for teaching, so being around kids is good for me. It’s good practice.”