What Competitive Swimming Means

It is college conference time and many former NBA swimmers are in action across the land. What follows is from Miguel after we gave him shout outs for his epic 1:47 200 back race. And it reinforces the point we speak to all the time here in our local swim community: swimming belongs to the swimmers…period. Our local summer league teams often (not always) say “You (NBA) are stealing our swimmers” when they decide they want more than the summer league has to offer. When a swimmer outgrows the existing environment and seeks a more challenging one, our attitude is “Awesome, go for it!” Miguel doesn’t “belong” to NBA…rather he is held in good stead by us until he is ready to move to his next vista point. Nobody owns a swimmer…Curt Flood saw to that.

Thanks Miguel for being such a valuable contributor to the North Bay history book!

“Thanks guys! Really amazing journey and I owe tons of it to the each of you, mean Mike, nice Mike and the whole North Bay community. I've been dreaming of that exact swim I did last night since high school. I still remember when you (Ken) told me I could go a 1:47 and I thought you were crazy. Thanks for believing in me. As for everything else, the lessons I learned on NBA regarding leadership, culture, teamwork and just being a well-rounded person are priceless and knowledge I'll carry with me for my whole life. The team (Fordham) exceeded all expectations, finished 4th (if it were swimming only, we would've smoked the 3rd place team). We broke 12 school records (all 5 relays, 7 individual). I was a part of 2 relays and the 2back record obviously. I've never been a part of a greater team atmosphere as I was last night. Swimming is so cool. Thanks for everything!”