Written by Abbey Hunter
Harding students are coming together to help kids in the Searcy area learn the fundamentals and life long positive effects of swimming.
The Crawfish Aquatic Team of Searcy, also known as CATS, is a competitive swimming program that began four years ago at Harding.
The program originally started in order “to provide a summer league, competitive swimming program in a Christian environment,” J.D. Yingling, professor of Kinesiology and Director of Aquatics at Harding, said.
Steve Worthy, a former Harding student and outstanding swimmer, coached the team for the first two summers, but it is now run by Yingling and three other Harding students.
The program consists of 13-week sessions in the fall, spring and summer. CATS participants compete in meets occasionally throughout the year and practice two to three times a week during the school year.
“We want to provide and inexpensive, low-pressure introduction to competitive swimming,” Yingling said. “Swimming is a great lifetime sport. We want to teach kids competitive skills– freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, starts and turns that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.”
Three Harding students, Katherine Kilpatrick, Emily Gastellum and Danielle Fontenot, are currently on staff coaching the swimmers.
“I love being able to be an example to younger kids,” Freshman CATS coach Danielle Fontenot said. “It’s a good feeling when they look up to you and respect you.”
Yingling said as the kids progress and acquire new skills, their self-esteem and physical fitness improve, and they learn to compete on a higher level.
“Some of the swimmers move on to swim for the Searcy Sharks, the local USA swim club,” Yingling said.
He said swimming is a great sport that helps children gain self-confidence as they improve. It also provides overall muscular fitness and cardiovascular fitness for the participants.
“We stress competition with themselves over others,” Yingling said. “We want the swimmers to try to improve their time and skills every times they enter in a meet.”
CATS is in need of at least one or two more swimming instructors for the upcoming summer season. Those interested who have a background in competitive swimming can contact J.D. Yingling for more information.
