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TEAM HISTORY
The Douglasville Stingrays were born in 1994. Lindy
and Bill Boatman formed the team due to a love for competitive
swimming and a need in the county to provide more options besides
swimming lessons in the aquatic world. The inaugural team consisted
of 18 members; 13 of whom belonged to one of 4 families! In 1995,
the team had grown to 32 members who began competing. Several
swimmers qualified for the State meet in 1995. By 1996, the team
had exploded to 70 members. Several of these members were tired of
swimming in an “ocean like” pool since there were no
lane ropes. They wrote a proposal to the City Council and the City
later purchased ropes and made us starting blocks. Lindy and Bill
Boatman coached until the end of the summer in 2000, when they
moved to North Carolina. The team had grown to 120 members. Many of
these swimmers are still swimming today, including one young man
who is swimming at the college level on scholarship. Karen Thorton
took over for the next 2 years and was
followed by Laura Swann.
In August, 2005 the team became a year-round swimming program. This
was possible due to the SPLOT funding from Douglas County and the
building of the Boundary Waters Aquatic Center. The Aquatic Center
provides an eight lane in-door practice pool, which the team
utilizes six days a week.
Coach Judy Prokopiak joined the staff in April 2006, and
became Head Coach in June 2007. The team now consists of kids of
all age groups and swimming abilities, from the beginning novice
swimmer to the State Champion Senior level. The team continues to
grow and develop.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Douglas County Stingrays is a competitive swim
program that inspires young people to develop the character and
self-discipline necessary to succeed not only in the sport of
swimming but also in life away from the pool. It is our mission to
embrace all evels of swimmers and create an environment whereby
each and every member can each their fullest potential as both a
person and athlete. We are committed to romoting the personal
values of high self-esteem, self-motivation, strong work ethic,
ersonal accountability, peer interaction, goal setting, and
realization and performance or all youth.
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