Report From Roosevelt Island Marlins Swim Team - Training In Exile While Sportspark Pool Remains Closed For Renovations, But Still Competing

The Roosevelt Island Marlins Swim Team reports:

Roosevelt Island Marlins Swim Team Continues Training In Exile While Sportspark Pool Is Closed.

Image From Roosevelt Island Marlins Swim Team Facebook Page

Roosevelt Island Swim Team continues training despite Sportspark pool being closed for renovations for almost six month.


The year has brought more personal bests, club records, Junior Olympics and Zones qualifying times, and a record number (9) of Roosevelt Island swimmers ranking among top 25 in the Metro area. 2016 has also ended with a big change for the team, as it welcomed a new Head Coach - Roman Sloudnov - to the Marlins family.

Image of Coach Roman Sloudnov From Roosevelt Island Marlins

Marlins Board shared their end-of-the-year message thanking the dedicated coaches, hardworking swimmers, and their supportive parents for staying with the team and giving it their 100% this year:

“2016 has brought on the greatest challenges in our team’s almost 12-year history. Marlins’ home pool has been renovated for almost half a year now; in these long months all our staff and families’ patience has been tested again and again, by the concerns about securing another location for training, balancing team budget, hectic carpool commute, and late practice times.

Despite all these setbacks, we have seen Roosevelt Islanders sweep the awards at every swim meet. The swim season is not over, yet we already have 12 Silvers Championship and 6 Junior Olympics qualifiers. THANK YOU for staying strong and sticking with us in the face of all these trials and tribulations.

We are delighted to end 2016 with a four-time Olympian Roman Sloudnov as a new Head Coach for the Roosevelt Island Swim Team. Roman arrived with a wealth of both professional swimming and coaching experience, most recently in the Metro LSC “Match Point” team. He shares our vision and mission, to qualify more Marlins’ swimmers for Silvers and Junior Olympic Championship this season, and then aim for higher goals, reaching the Zones and Junior Nationals.

We see Roman as a strong leader and a good mentor for our swimmers. During this past month on the team, his professional demeanor has clearly proved we are now moving in the right direction. Coach Roman will be instrumental in helping the Board achieve much needed period of stability in 2017, with all of us working together with great persistence towards our common goal – raising athletes who are successful in and outside of the pool.

With Coach Roman on board, we are confident that 2017 will bring us faster times, new victories, more JOs and ZQ cuts, ribbons, medals, but, most importantly, it’ll help our swimmers learn life's most powerful lessons (hopefully through less adversity than this year - wink), gain more self-confidence, develop impeccable character and build stronger friendships.

In swimming and in life, there is a tremendous difference between winning and succeeding. We, the parents, all know too well that while success is not necessarily about the outcome, it is always about the journey.

It has been an absolute joy watching our children grow up together to become the best athletes, friends, and persons they can be. Happy New Year! To be continued in 2017.

Very truly yours,

The Board.”

“I am honored to join the Roosevelt Island Swim Team as the Head Coach.” - Roman Sloudnov reported. - “It is a big responsibility and I am ready to do my best in helping the team reach a new level of the athletic performance. As a coach, I believe that sports help kids take their first steps towards building a lifetime of success. Sense of accomplishment gives young athletes much needed confidence to strive for the best results in anything they do in the future. My goal is to create an atmosphere where all swimmers have a chance to explore their authentic potential.

The past year has been a real challenge for the program, and I want to say thank you to each and everyone who participated in keeping the team united. We broke many records and won numerous medals despite these challenges. In the new year, I wish us to return to our pool and continue the mutual journey towards athletic excellence.”

Junior Group coach Tyrone Hung added:

 Image of Coach Tyrone From Roosevelt Island Marlins

“Our swimmers continue to work hard in exile from Sportspark, and it shows. At the last few meets our swimmers have again swept the awards. The swimming season will continue after Winter Break, and we are looking forward to more medals, age group records and another great year of swimming. I would also like to thank and congratulate the team and parents for enduring through all this EXILE. There have been a lot of changes in a very short time, but we hold it up to the end. We did a great job as a team.” He also shares some inspirational messages with the team,
“1. United we stand as a team, divided we fall.
2. Work hard, train harder, then victory becomes much more easier to accomplish.
3. Hard work, discipline and dedication is the seed we need to plant in order to reap the harvest of success.
4. Best way to accomplish victory is if failure is unthinkable .
5. Put negativity behind you, and strive with confidence to achieve your goals.
6. The hotter the battle, the sweeter the victory.”

2016 has also proved that Marlins’ youngest athletes, our “Future Stars” (8 & Under division) swimmers, are both fierce competitors and loyal friends.

“The carpool to Astoria has really brought our entire team together. We are grateful to our dedicated parents, who have been organizing it for the past 6 months that we’ve been out of our home pool.” – “Future Stars” Coach Andrea shared.

 Image of Coach Andrea From Roosevelt Island Marlins

“It is my pleasure and privilege to work not just with the team’s youngest athletes, but also with their amazing parents and our enthusiastic Board, that truly supports every child’s passion for swimming. While we faced plenty of setbacks this Fall, I sincerely believe Marlins boys and girls will one day look back to this season as a highlight of their childhood.”

In December we celebrated another great year of swimming with food, friends, and black light glow festivities.

Team’s “Learn to Swim” program, available to children as young as 3 years old, has been suspended during Sportspark renovations, which is a great loss for our team. We can’t wait to return to our pool!

As previously reported, after several delays, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) hopes to have the Sportspark pool open in Mid February.

We're almost there.

More information on the Roosevelt Island Marlins available at their web site and Facebook page.