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About

"Getting Kids Together & Doing Something Positive"

Mission Statement & Objectives

The Kona Dolphin Swim Club seeks to promote competitve swimming for boys and girls aby offering the best possible coaching in a friendly and high-achievement environment.

As a swimmier, you will meet new friends and participate in exciting swimming competitions on the Big Island and elsewhere in Hawaii. You will have the opportunity to accomplish your swimming goals through concentration and hard work; and, of course, to have fun!

At each level, the goals we set are specific and directed toward meeting the needs of our swimmers. Because each child progresses at his or her own rate, our coaches recognize this fact by placing a swimmer in the proper group based on the swimmer’s physical, mental,m and emotional level of development.

The Objectives of our program are:

  • To promote the enjoyment of swimming as a healthy sport and as a "skill for life"
  • To develoop sportsmanship
  • To help and encourage swimmers to reach their full potential consistent with their skills and abilities
  • To develop mutual understanding among coaches, parents and swimmers on the need for cooperation, self-motivation, respect and team spirit in the pursuit of excellence.

 

Our Club

When Coach Kathy Clarke founded the Kona Dolphin Swim Club in 1999, the team had only five swimmer including her daughters Joyce and Bridget. Coach Harry Canales became Head Coach in 2001, when the Club had about 25 members. As of January 2008, our Club counted 71 registered athletes. Click Here to get started and print out your team registration forms.

The Kona Dolphin Swim Club conducts a year-around competitive swimming program. It participates in all Long Course (50 meters) and Short Course (25 yards) swim meets sanctioned by Hawaiian Swimming on the Island of Hawaii. There are five swim meets during the Long Course season (January to June) and five in the Short Course season (September to December). During each season, two meets are usually held in Kona (at our pool the Kona Community Aquatic Center), and one each in Hilo (Kawamoto Pool), Waimea (Hawaii Preparatory Academy) and Kea’au (Kamehameha School).

We act as the host team for one meet during the Long Course season and one during the Short Course season. In addition, we participate in the annual Hawaii State Long Course and Short Course Championships held in July and December, respectively.

Our swimmers swim at invitational meets off-island, and we also have sent swimmer to the prestigious Western Zone Championships on the mainland.

Our Club was proud to have successfully hosted the Hawaii Short Course Swimming Championships in 2004 and 2006.

Our swimmers also compete internationally as well. In July of 2001, 17 members of our club participated in the Stockholm Summer Games in Stockholm, Sweden.  The summer games are an annual international competition for youths under the age of 18 years old.  More than a dozen countries and 14 different sports were represented during the 2001 Summer games. It was an unforgettable and fun experience for both parents and swimmers.

 
Our Swedish hosts were outstanding and very efficient.  The swimmers had the privilige of swimming at the Eriksdalsbadet Swim Center in Stockholm, Sweden, which was the host of the 2001 Short Course World Championships. The arena consisted of several pools, including both  indoor and outdoor world-class pool venues, as well as a separate diving/platform training pool, a teaching pool for children and adults (water temperature was approx. 90 degrees...like bath water, great for teaching!), a game/slide/fun pool for children, as well as a food concession, saunas, steam rooms, etc, etc!!!
 
Although 4 days of competition took a fair amount of our time we had lots of fun during our spare time.  Our Summer Games participant badges served as our free ticket onto most of the public transportation systems in Stockholm.  We also had free access to a famous museum, an amusement park as well as many other activities for participants and team chaperones. For more information on the Summer games please contact www.summergames.se
 
In order to offset the costs of the trip, swimmers and parents conducted several fundraisers as well as a Swim-A-Thon.  The hard work and time dedicated to these helped tremendously in making this dream come to reality.  In addition, we certainly could not have done it without the overwhelming support of the Kailua -Kona community and its many businesses and organizations. Mahalo Nui to all who helped us get to Sweden!!!