Dublin Green Gators Swim Team Tri-Valley Champs Again

The Dublin Green Gators Swim Team finished the 2018 season at the Tri-Valley Swim League Championship as Champions for the fourth consecutive year.

This winning streak began in 2015 when for the first time in its 29-year history the Green Gators Swim Team won the Tri-Valley Swim League Championship.

At a ceremony at the Wave in Dublin over the weekend, Miranda Duarte received the Most Valued award for the 13-14 Girls, and also received The Dublin Green Gator Award which is awarded to one swimmer every year for showing dedication and leadership.

The Most Valued award is given to the swimmer who has scored the highest amount of points at the championship meet and has a high percentage of points earned from the dual meets. This swimmer displays leadership characteristics and always practices good sportsmanship in swimming.

Miranda said she was both surprised and delighted to receive the awards and had expected that one of the older swimmers would be the recipient. She is passionate about swimming and her warm, caring and endearing personality shines as she talks about her time spent competing and supporting younger swimmers as a junior coach.

Miranda is also multi-talented and sang the national anthem at the opening of the Tri-Valley Championship. She is not new to performing in front of an audience as she also recently starred as Rapunzel in the production of "Into the Woods" by Grand Performing Arts. Unassuming and modest she takes care to point out that she was not the only swimmer with a background in theatre as Trevor Lind, Rapunzel's Prince in the show, also swims for Gators.

Miranda says she enjoys seeing both sides of the learning and coaching spectrum in swimming as she connects really well with her coaches — who know how to improve her strokes and motivate her — while also experiencing the joy of junior coaching and seeing younger swimmers develop. She was thrilled when she got to assist a 6-year old swimmer in learning to float when he found it particularly challenging. Miranda enthusiastically refers to the Gators swim community as her "Summer Family".

The Dublin Green Gator Award that Miranda received is only given to the one overall Dublin Green Gator swimmer who has proven to be a role model, has characteristics of a good leader, and member of the team. The award honors the memory of swimmer, Gabriel Gamez.

According to the history of the award on the Dublin Green Gators website, Gabriel Gamez, died after the 1992 swim season. Gabriel swam for the Gators for several seasons. "Seeing him interacting with his teammates and his display of team spirit or leadership skills was almost unbelievable for a 13-year-old boy. Gabriel was always involved in social activities, sports and volunteer work. With his outgoing spirit, you would have thought that he was one of the top athletes on the team, " said his sister Angela Gonzalez, Recreation Technician and manager of the Competitive Swim Program at The Wave, "However he was not; Gabriel was in it to have fun and make friends. After he died, some of our friends from the team and I realized how he touched so many people’s lives." Subsequently in 1993 the coaches and Parent Committee decided to create this award. The coaches choose one swimmer who displays the same characteristics and selflessness that Gabriel did.

Angela fondly recalls the time she spent swimming with her brother and says that not much has changed in terms of the interactions and fun with other swimmers. She chuckles as she recalls the memories of her childhood that include things that current swimmers still do such as writing 'eat my bubbles' with sharpie markers on each other. Angela feels that she currently has the best of both worlds as she no longer coaches but still engages with the swimmers and their families in her managerial role. She is proud to honor his memory through recognizing the skills and leadership qualities in Gators swimmers like Miranda.

Jamee Sicat, Miranda's mother, a volunteer and a teacher at Dougherty Elementary School, was asked about her thoughts on the team's success. "It’s hard to get on the team now. Since we were winning champs. We used to be 5th or 6th place (out of 8 teams), then one time we were 3rd and we were sooooo happy!!! It was so funny how much we celebrated. We got a little trophy to display too. Lol. Then when we won 1st, we were so shocked. Like it was a dream. And we’ve been 1st Place ever since," said Jamee.

The Dublin Green Gator Swim Team states that "its goal is that each participant will develop a lifelong positive attitude toward swimming. During the season, individual skill development, goal setting, recreational competition and most importantly, fun are all stressed. Each participant will be encouraged to reach their full potential. If an individual champion or a winning team is developed along the way . . . that is fine. However, this is not the main purpose of the program."

The Gators have a group of skilled and dedicated coaches who have made a huge difference in the team dynamics and training program. They are well loved and appreciated for the work they do. Swim team coaches are employees of the City of Dublin and are under the direction of and responsible to the Parks and Community Services Department. "It was a hard task to replace Noel Sollom-Brotherton, who is also a teacher and former swim coach at Dublin High" said Angela "but thankfully we found Linda Trost, or rather she found us, and it's been a wonderful transition and we barely skipped a beat". Head Coach Linda Trost’s staff of assistant coaches includes newcomer Lawrence Li, and former accomplished Gator swimmers Jon Garcia, Spencer Dillon and Olivia Cano.

It's not all about training for the Gators as they engage with each other through dine out fundraisers and gather together like family every Tuesday. Swimmers are also paired to root and cheer for each other through the Gator Buddies program which encourages leadership skills and sportsmanship. They also have dress-up days or spirit days at home meets, pizza parties and a swim-a-thon each year that ends with an ice cream social where the swimming is purely for fun and not practice.

"The Gators recent success has been remarkable," said Matt Gluck, President of the Parent Committee for the Gators. " The team has always been fun and its main goal has been teaching and creating a love for swimming, but in the past when more serious swimmers would improve, desiring tougher competition, we would lose our best to more competitive year round teams."

Matt Gluck attributes the team's recent success to continuity. "Our core group of coaches, parents and recreation department staff has stayed largely intact and we now have very little turnover. Each year the kids come back and they're picking up where they left off, getting great instruction, putting in the hard work and the positive results are coming along with it."

Matt also has four of his own swimmers on the team: Sofia, Olivia, Maya and Vanessa. This past Championship meet was a bittersweet event as it was the last season for his eldest, Sofia, who will be headed to the University of Oregon in the fall. Sofia also coached the Junior Gators and still holds several team and league records. Sofia and her family have been with the Gators since she was 5 years old.

"The thing I 'm most proud of is that although it's great to win, this team was just as much fun when we consistently finished in the lower half of the division," said Matt. "I see the future of the Gators identical to the present. Win or lose, building a love for swimming and fostering a team first environment, with the hope that swimmers love their time on the team and never want to leave."

More pictures from the event are available online. We wish the Dublin Green Gators well in their next season.

Photo Credits: Tae Shimonishi, Jamee Sicat, Edmund Duarte, Ander Choi, Angela Gonzalez

See footage from the interview with Angela Gonzalez, Miranda Duarte and Jamee Sicat as they discuss "Patches and Incentives" for swimmers.