Junior High School swimmers (7th and 8th grades) must swim with the Junior-1 or Junior-2 group. Freshman swimmers (9th grade) will swim with the Senior group. Exceptions to this rule will be discussed and agreed upon by the coaching staff. The Junior Team is divided into two team consisting of:
Junior-1: The Junior-1 group is for highly competitive 13 and 14 year old swimmers that have achieved 2 national “A” times and have successfully completed the test sets. The Junior-1 group workout now includes the morning and Saturday workouts with the Senior team, along with afternoon workouts with the Junior-2 group.
Junior-2: The Junior-2 group consists of Jr. High age swimmers (12-14) that have three legal strokes. This group emphasizes endurance and stroke refinement. Discipline and dedication are an integral part of this team in preparation for advancement to the Junior-1 group, the Senior team, and the High School swim teams. (Summer months only)
Kathy King, Junior Coach: Kathy grew up in a military family and has lived in many places including Germany and Japan, but she never they was a swim team nearby, she joined! She swam competitively throughout high school. She received her masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Florida University in 1983. Six of her seven children currently swim with HAST....yes....that’s 12 fins in their closet at home! What she loves the very most about coaching is when the swimmers begin understand that working hard in practice is what prepares them to swim hard at meets and reach their goals. She loves to see their hard work pay off.
Karen Pollock, Junior Coach: Karen grew up in Santa Barbara, California and started swimming competitively at age 4. She was nationally ranked in the top 16 as an age group swimmer. Karen continued swimming competitively through high school. After having four boys, she decided to start swimming masters at age 32. Karen also enrolled her children into swim team. Three of her four boys swim for HAST and Karen continues to enjoy swimming as a life long sport. Karen has been coaching 1 1/2 years at HAST. About the sport and coaching Karen says, "I love this side of swimming. Helping kids improve and develop better technique and watching them achieve goals and learn self discipline is very fulfilling."
