Wave Ryders swim team doubles in size

Bigfork’s local swim team, the Wave Ryders, are now four meets into their season, and it is looking to not only be the biggest team, but one of the best as well.

“The team is doing very well,” said Wave Ryders head coach Deidre Loyda. “We have several kids on track to make it to sectionals, and we’re having a lot of fun.”

The team, now in its fourth year, has 62 kids on it, which is the largest the team has ever been. Thirty of those kids are new to the team this year. Although Loyda credits part of the growth to the fame that competitive swimming gained during the summer Olympics, she also notes that the team has doubled in size each year since its formation.

“The new kids are doing really well,” Loyda said. “They’ve added a lot of personality to the team. It’s really fun to have so many kids on deck. It’s fun for the more experienced kids. Before we didn’t have enough kids to do relays. Now we have enough to have multiple relay teams in some of the age divisions. We have great dynamics now.”

Although the new kids are a great addition, they also add to the diversity of skill levels on the team.

“We have a wide range of abilities,” Loyda said. “We have kids that can barely make it across the pool and we have kids that are nationally ranked. It’s the responsibility of the ranked kids to help the other kids. So they are teaching kids to be better swimmers at a very young age, and that’s an important life skill.”

The kids, who range in age from five to 17 years old, come from as far south as Lakeside and Yellow Bay and as far north as Eureka to be a part of the team. They have two sites to help make practices more convenient. Practices are held at Bigfork’s Montana Athletic Club on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Monday through Friday there are practices at The Wave in Whitefish. The kids can attend practices at either facility on any of the days. Fridays are team days in which Loyda brings all the kids together at The Wave and has them work on team building, as well as turns and starts, since the pool is larger in Whitefish than in Bigfork.

The flexible practice schedule allows the kids to be more or less involved in the sport as desired.

“There are kids on the team that only do it for exercise, and there are kids that do it for a more competitive experience,” Loyda said.

The coaches are hoping to get about 20 of the kids to the state tournament, and get about eight of those swimmers to move on to sectionals, all of which will take place around March.

Although she is excited by the team’s success, Loyda said that winning is not the real goal she has for these kids.

“The meets aren’t really my focus,” Loyda said. “My biggest goal is to teach the kids life long lessons.”

Loyda, who swam competitively growing up, moved to the Flathead Valley in 2004 from Wisconsin. She helped coach Kalispell’s swim team, the KATS for one season, until The Wave opened and she took a coaching job there.

“I was excited about the opportunity of starting a new team,” Loyda said. “But 50 percent of new swim teams in America fail, and that challenge drew me in.”

In the beginning her team consisted of her four children, who are all still on the team and three children of the owner of The Wave. Just a few short years later Loyda feels like her family has grown.

“It is so much fun to coach all of these kids,” Loyda said. “I feel like I’ve birthed all 62 of them. They’re always excited to come to practice. When they get there they can’t wait to tell me all about their day at school. They’re great and the support from the community is always very positive.”

Loyda said that she is especially happy with her choice to coach at The Wave because of the atmosphere they provide. The focus is not just on how many laps they can swim and how fast they can do it, according to Loyda. They have a personal trainer for the swimmers and put on clinics for them on topics like nutrition, sports psychology and technical development. Many of the kids are participating in a strength training course right now.

“I liked the idea of offering something different than any other team did in the state,” Loyda said. “The Wave and the swim team work congruently to provide a holistic environment for the children.”

Loyda tries to keep things from getting too intense for the kids as well. Swimming is a year-round sport with long course competitions starting up shortly after March’s championship season, but Loyda gives the kids August off. She also allows them to play other sports, even if that means their not competing on the swim team during that time.

“We encourage diversity,” Loyda said. “We don’t want burn out. Swimming is great cross training for other sports too.”

The Wave Ryders will compete next on Jan. 15 at the Summit where they will take on  the KATS.