The bleachers were packed and the parking lot full at the Kona Community Aquatic Center (KCAC) as more than 200 age-group athletes ranging from ages 6 to 18 from across the island competed in Saturday’s Big Island Swim Meet.
For head coaches Dave Gibson with the Kona Aquatics and Joyce Follis with the Kona Dolphins, it was a long time coming. To finally co-host Saturday’s Big Island Swim Meet at KCAC after undertaking a major revitalization project for the aging pool, left both filled with happiness and excitement.
“We have over 200 athletes entering the meet which is our biggest meet since COVID,” smiled Gibson. “It’s the first time we’ve been able to have a meet at KCAC since 2019, so it’s been four years. The coaches across the island and all of the swimmers are really excited about it, and the swimmers who are most excited about it are the swimmers who train here at KCAC all the time.”
Follis said that the feeling to see swimmers in action again at KCAC was just absolute joy.
“Being able to see all of the kids and all of the families here — this is the highest attended meet so far since COVID which speaks volumes because all of these kids have been swimming this whole time. They all wanted to come and race here today so we are just thrilled. We are happy to bring swimming back to the Kona community.”
Of the 200 swimmers who competed in Saturday’s short course meet, a whopping 120 athletes — 70 from the Kona Dolphins and 50 from the Kona Aquatics — regularly train at the Kona pool.
“This is big because we were able to retain kids and get more into swimming during COVID,” Follis said. “We worked really hard to swim in the ocean and to swim during COVID so the kids had something to do. To see so many of them here today and racing — I just don’t have the words. I’m so happy, I’m so excited, and all of the kids are stoked.”
Gibson added, “The kids are super excited to be competing at their home pool. Parents are also excited because they can now see their kids compete at the pool they practice at. It’s a big step forward.”
The starting blocks at KCAC were condemned in 2019 leaving the Kona Aquatics and Kona Dolphins without use of the required platform to train on or to hold swim meets. Gibson and his public-private partnerships were relentless with their dedication on a revitalization project to replace the pool deck concrete and install eight “best in class” starting blocks last November, with the goal to return competitive meets to KCAC. Saturday’s huge turnout proved their success.
“It has been almost two different phases,” Gibson said. “First, we needed to get some fundraising in place and find people who were willing to help fund the various project at the pool. Then we had to do some construction projects. We worked with the County but there were a lot of private companies and people who got involved to help it happen quickly. Now here we are, hosting our first meet in four years. Our hope is to schedule more meets here in the future.”
Follis added that coming up will be next month’s Junior Age Group Championships at KCAC on March 4th and 5th.
“We are hosting the Junior Age Group Championships for the entire state,” she said. “So, it will bring athletes who aren’t quite at the state level yet their own championship swim meet. Both Kona Aquatics and Kona Dolphins will co-host the meet.”
Gibson shared, “This is the championship meet that we are hoping to host here at KCAC long-term. We want to host a really good meet as the Junior Age Group Championships hasn’t been held since COVID, so we are just wanting to bring this back at the state level.
“It will be a nice meet for those traveling to Kona from the other islands. Most meets we travel to Oahu and sometimes Maui so this will start a trend of having athletes come to the Big Island. It’s been a lot of work to get to where we are at but we are going to see a lot of smiling faces from athletes and happy parents. We are looking forward to it!”