Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

UVI swim team debuts in January
12-20-2006

ST CROIX, USVI: University of the Virgin Islands Athletic Director Peter Sauer has announced the formation of a swim team as part of the University’s athletic program as of January 1, 2007. The team will compete in the LAI University League ( LAI consists of 19 Puerto Rican Universities –including four NCAA member teams and UVI) and will begin training after the start of the new year.

The team will be coached by Kevin Tyrrell, who is also currently head coach of the St Croix Dolphins and National Team coach for the Virgin Islands.

The UVI team will train on St Croix at the Dolphins Pool at Country Day School. “The Dolphins Pool is a 6 lane, 50-meter Olympic size pool, which will greatly aid in the swimmers’ training” said Coach Tyrrell. “We are fortunate to be able to train in a pool that will help get us in shape quickly.”

A number of UVI students have committed to the swimming program - including Kamal Russell. “I’m excited about our UVI team. Being a competitive swimmer growing up and choosing to go to UVI, I always wished we had a team. It’s here now and I believe we can be successful quickly,” Kamal Russell said. He’s not the only one looking forward to starting up.

“I’m always looking for activities to keep me healthy and I love to swim,” said Amanda Webber – another UVI student who has joined the team. “Having a college team with my friends will be fun and keep me motivated to stay in shape and I like that. I hope others decide to join the team too.”

Coach Tyrrell is looking forward to getting the program off the ground. He has experience at the upper levels of college swimming as he served for four years as volunteer assistant coach at Harvard University from 2000-2004. Harvard is consistently a top 25 team at NCAA Division 1 Championships and has numerous world-class athletes each season.

“I was fortunate to be able to learn from one of the best college coaches in the nation in Harvard Men’s Swimming Head Coach Tim Murphy. He and Assistant Coach Sean Schimmel were great role models and I learned a great deal from them,” Tyrrell said.“I look forward to applying that knowledge.”

Before coming to St Croix, Coach Tyrrell was the head coach of the North Shore YMCA Sharks in Massachusetts, a 500-swimmer team that helped more than 90 swimmers become YMCA All-Americans and go on to Division 1 college swim programs .He swam for NCAA Division 1 Lafayette College for four years where he was two-time captain.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to start things off the right way with this program and we will take full advantage of it,” Tyrrell said. “However, it’s important for us to keep realistic expectations. We will have a small team as we build the program and will not be able to field relays this season in most meets. Relays count twice as many points as individual swims, so winning a meet or scoring in the top half of teams at invitationals may be difficult.”

Tyrrell has set two goals for this year:

1. To represent UVI in a professional and determined manner and

2. To set a benchmark for success that the team can build off of next season and for years to come

“We need to see where we are at before we can set a plan in motion for the future and that is what this season is all about,” Tyrrell said. “It’s all about being positive and learning as we go.”

“Starting a varsity sport and basing that sport on the St Croix campus was a goal of mine,” Sauer said. “Being accepted into the LAI League – which competes in varsity swimming and having a history of competitive youth swimming on St Croix, made adding a swimming team a perfect fit. One of our objectives in the Athletic Department is to have students develop and become leaders through sports competition. We believe swimming is another great way to achieve that goal for UVI students.”

UVI offers varsity teams in basketball, cross country, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. “We are happy to include swimming and look forward to many years of success and the life experience it will bring our students,” Sauer said.