Carmel Swimming Impact Stories – Volume 5 and 6

by | Aug 3, 2021 | Carmel Swim Club, Impact Stories

Carmel Swim Academy is one part of the larger Carmel Swim Club community. Carmel Swim Club’s mission is teaching excellence through swimming, for life. CSA offers a doorway to swimming through dynamic aquatics programming, including group swim lessons. To date, we’ve shared the stories of 38 Carmel Swim Club alumni. These videos detail the lasting impact swimming––particularly swimming with Carmel––has on their lives. The overall takeaway? The relationships you forge in the pool, with your coaches, teammates, and yourself, provide an enduring touchstone throughout life. Though diverse in their experiences each of these swimmers would encourage your family to “test the waters” and give swimming a try.

We’ll continue to feature new videos (and, we will provide audio versions as bonus episodes on the Off the Deck podcast stream). In the meantime, if you’ve missed any of our past impact stories, you can find them all here:

Early Summer 2021 Series

  • Derek Stauder: Derek reflects on how swimming taught him the important difference between the urgent things and the important things.
  • Alexis (Bullard) Kruzel: Now a mother of two, Alexis shares the importance of learning to swim for safety, but also how it helped her master patience, persistence, and consistency.
  • Harrison Wagner: Harrison notes that competition in a positive framework continues to serve him well in his life. Swimming gave him the opportunity to practice those skills.
  • Trish Regan: The connection and community she forged with her teammates is a gift that Trish treasures more than 11 years after graduating from CSC.
  • Mark Cooney: With a guest appearance from his dog, Finn, Mark appreciates the strength of CSC’s culture and the emphasis placed on developing values within the team.
  • Katy Schlies: Katy urges all athletes to know the worth of their contributions; some of her proudest moments of leadership came in how she helped forge her team together.

Late Spring 2021 Series

  • Devon Mason: Devon’s love of the pool was inspired and nurtured by her older sister’s foray into the sport. Devon made her own mark on the CSC community.
  • Zechariah Banks: Zech joined CSC as a junior in high school and his time with the program helped him learn patience for the successes of hard work.
  • Alex Clarke: The trust Alex built with her coaches and her teammates is what she credits for her successes in the pool.
    Tylor Gauger: Carmel Swim Club brought new opportunities to Tylor that he had never experienced before. He appreciates how he learned to appreciate the journey and process, not just the results here.
  • Sam Thomas: A 2015 CHS/CSC graduate, Sam returned to the pool as one of Carmel Swim Academy’s lead staff this summer. 
  • Colleen (Drew) Bzowski: Colleen wants people to know that when they join CSC they are joining a family. Those connections remain rooted in her life today.

Early Spring 2021 Series

Winter 2021 Series

Fall 2020 Series

Spring 2020 Series

Are you a CSC alum who is interested in being featured? We’d love to talk with you! Contact Maggie (mmestrich@carmelswimclub.org, 317-432-6546) to schedule your interview.