The Aragon swim team has undergone a new coaching system. Since Fred Farely, last year’s coach, was unable to coach this season, former Aragon student Masa Ota and Josh Tatro co-coach the swim team this year.
The coaching system works out with Ota coaching varsity and Tatro coaching Junior Varsity. Things have been running smoothly, as Ota says, “There haven’t been any issues with having two coaches run the program. Luckily, Josh is flexible and easy to work with so it is much easier to get things done and organize events and practices. When I am away at a swim meet, he will coach both teams. It is a lot easier, not harder.”
Sophomore Rick Miyagi agrees that two coaches are better than one, stating, “You can get two different viewpoints to improve your strokes. Plus the coaches have fun during practice too.”
Sophomore Lauren Pon agrees, “It’s helpful having two coaches. There’s JV and Varsity so obviously, we’re at all different levels. Two coaches help to focus on all of us better.”
Freshman Jeffrey Ng states, “It helps because one focuses on varsity and one focuses mainly on junior varsity.”
Ota, was also the coach of the boy’s frosh/soph water polo team in the fall. He compares, “The water polo coaching is much different from swim coaching. It’s a very different sport but they are both very fun to work with, especially with a diverse group at Aragon. My favorite part about coaching is seeing the kids enjoy what they do through all the ups and downs and watching them learn to become athletes.”
Tatro also coached the frosh/soph water polo team. He says, “I was first drawn to coaching because of the positive influence of my coaches. I liked coaching both water polo and swimming. There haven’t been any problems at all with the two coaches jointly running the program. The team has improved tremendously, and watching their times drop was awesome. And of course, my favorite part of coaching is the kids that make up the team.”
Under the two coaches, the boys varsity team is in 6th place with a 2-5 record, while the JV boys are in 5th place with a 3-4 record. The girls varsity team is in 7th place with a 1-5 record, while the JV girls are in 4th place with a 3-3 record. Miyagi says, “We swam a lot better last year. We just don’t have enough swimmers this year. We only have about 10 varsity swimmers, and only about four or five are superior club swimmers. We had more people last year and just had a lot more fun in general.” Pon claims, “I was pretty skeptical of joining the team, but immediately I knew I loved being on the swim team. I actually enjoy going to practice… it gives me a breather from everything. My favorite part is that we are all pretty close.”
