The middle school is starting to mirror the upper school on the sports level. On Friday, Nov. 9, the middle school will add girls swimming to the list of sports that it offers. Its a realization of dream that started a long time ago and at one point seemed dead.

Several years ago the dream of  a middle school swim program was seriously considered and almost became a reality. But having only one swim coach to teach the entire student body proved to be the fianl nail in the coffin of the the middle school swim program for  for the time being.

“We couldn’t put all that strain on Mr. Kehr,” said J.D. Perona, middle school athletic director.

But when WCA moved to the new campus, the subject again came up on the table. As of last year, only one option was available for winter middle school girls sports, something that was heavy on the heart of Perona and on the hearts of the school as a whole.

“One of the purposes of middle school athletics is to get  more girls the opportunity to participate in a sport during the winter months and to get the kids active for the season,” said Perona.

This year’s Middle School schedule allowed more of a window for the option. With middle school sports practices happening towards the end of the day. the move allowed Coach Kehr to help out with the team. Marjen Kempen was added as a coach, and so two coaches now were at the reigns of the middle school swim program.

“I have been swimming for a long time and swam all throughout college,” said Kempen.

“Marjan Kempen will also be helping with the high school girls swim team and is able to help the middle school team. So, now that we have two coaches who can run the program, the choice became more concrete ,” said Perona

Kempen and Kehr now provide a high level of experience to the program, each bringing a particular skill set to the table and to the program. Kempen will also be coaching the upper school, getting a feel for that and bringing some of the experience gained while coaching the upper school to the middle school practices.

“I would say one of the best things about our swimming program is going to be our coaches. It would be hard to find a middle school program anywhere that has the expertise and experience our of coaches,” said Perona.

As the vision of a program began to become a real topic, the next question that arose was a logical and obvious one. Is there even a league for this?

“I talked to the school in our Middle School league and turns out several of them have a swimming program, but none of us have ever competed. It was really cool” said Perona.

This league will now allow the team to compete in a few meets with other schools which will give the program a more upper school feel and schedule.

“The meets have not yet been set, but will be on our website as soon as they are. They will most likely be in January and February,” siad Perona.

This move gives the girls time to practice and improve before they go out and compete in the real world of sports.

While the swimming program is just starting the middle school program as a whole is beginning to undergo a growth period. Its a vision of Westminster sports to offer the exact amount of sports in middle school that they do in the upper levels.

“I would love to have all of the same sports as our high school program has and we are getting closer. We recently added middle school cross country and this spring we will be adding middle school girls’ lacrosse. Swimming was a pretty easy addition now that we have coaches who can do it,” said Perona.

But there is a little bit of an ulterior motive behind the decision to expand so rapidly.

“Starting the swimming program will hopefully help the varsity teams in the long run. Several of the girls who will be participating will be beginner swimmers. Now instead of starting as freshmen more girls will begin swimming two years earlier and our varsity teams will be even better,” said Perona.

The success of the swim program will prove to be vital to the continued expansion of the middle program as a whole, but given the numbers already shown, it is proving it can be called a success already.

“As of now, we have six 8th graders and 20 7th graders ready to swim, and sign ups continue to come in as of now,” said Perona.

The number of girls has brought up the thought of expanding the program to guys during the next season, as long as it will benefit the school as a whole.

The middle school is moving up to the upper school and is thinking far into the future for its program. In the last year since moving to the new campus, at least three programs have been anounced and many more are starting the weave their way down the pipeline, all the way to reality. Because as said before, many students going on to upper school and keep playing the same sport. Why not let the middle school get in on the game early? The already great Westminster sports program can expect the more victories all the way up to a state level. That’s the vision, a vision that allows the middle school to get in a piece of the action.