Schaumburg swimmers study strokes of Olympians

When Michael Phelps made his return to the 2016 Olympics, 12-year-old Rishita Ghelda was watching from her family's Schaumburg home.

"The way he does strokes like the butterfly with such speed is so awesome," said Rishita, a member of the Schaumburg Park District's Barracuda Swim Team. "Phelps is definitely my favorite swimmer."

As she recently prepared for an upcoming meet at Meineke Pool, 220 E. Weathersfield Way, Rishita looked toward her own Olympic dreams.

"I want to represent the U.S. someday and take home a gold medal," she said. "That would be an incredible experience."

Whether a child's goal is to become a future Olympian or a champion swimmer on a local high school team, the Barracudas are an excellent place to start. The team is open to swimmers ages 5 to 18, with levels ranging from Beginner and Intermediate to Advanced and the more elite USA Swimming Team.

Swimmers must have undergone swim lessons and know at least three of the four competitive strokes - freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly - to tryout. Children competing at the USA Swimming Team level must know all four strokes and practice at least two hours a day, five days a week.

"The advanced swimmers compete more with private teams, while the rest of the team swims against other area park districts," said Stacy Johnson, assistant aquatics supervisor.

"We typically place second at the summer championship meets, and a couple of times we have even placed first."

Although the team is competitive, the overall idea of the Barracudas is to have fun and instill a love of swimming.

"We want to see our swimmers continue in the sport for years to come," said Head Coach Adam Longo. "Swimming is such a great whole body workout for all ages. You use so many muscles."

How well a swimmer performs depends less on age and more on skill level, said Longo, 27, a former Conant High School swimmer. Breaststroke and butterfly pose more of a challenge for young swimmers because of the amount of strength required to push the arms out of the water, he said.

"An 8-year-old might be just as good as a 13-year-old based on how hard he or she works and how bad the child wants to succeed," Longo said.

"You always watch kids for natural ability, but there are swimmers without that ability who have gotten really good because they have their minds set on it."

And it's that thrill of competing that made Sam Gosche want to be a Barracuda.

"It's an exciting sport," said Sam, 14, of Schaumburg. "I love the meets and being in the water."