Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Fishy Tale of Donna Collins



Swimming is a great sport for athletes although it is commonly overlooked. Coaches work hard to pass their knowledge down to young swimmers; this year my swim team, PSA has Donna Collins as our coach. Donna was born in Pendleton and is currently living with her fifteen year old dog Pax, she has been a swimmer since 1955. She started coaching in 1983 when her son started swimming in the fishies program. She enjoys coaching and loves watching the kids improve. Her favorite thing about coaching is watching the kids achieve something they never thought they would. Donna is looking forward to seeing the kids excited about racing. Her greatest memory was when the high school boys’ relay team was two points behind second place. This was especially exciting for her, because the kids were not from a strong program and she remembers the coaches from other teams going “Wait a minute, that’s Pendleton!”
She would like the paper to have more press on the sport, but mostly she wants the kids to be more involved in the community. She plans on having the swim teams (Pendleton Swim Association and Pendleton High School) help rebuild Pioneer Park, as she herself had many great memories from when she was a kid. Her favorite memory is when she was learning to swim butterfly in the small pool they had there. Donna is a great coach, with many useful tips, I can’t wait to see how she helps the swim team improve.

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