Carlos Ceja, the swim coach who does it all

Swimming wasn’t Northside College Prep High School Aquatic Director Carlos Ceja’s favorite sport until he started swimming competitively at Roosevelt High School. Ceja said he was on the wrestling team at Gordon Tech College Prep before transferring to Roosevelt and joining the swim team. Ceja said the camaraderie of being on the swim team was important to him.

“It was a big aspect in my life without even knowing it,” said Ceja.

Ceja also serves as the head coach of the swimming and diving teams and women’s water polo at Northside. He is also the co-founder and head coach of the Northside Aquatics Club.

After graduating high school, Ceja joined the U.S. Navy. Ceja called himself a glorified lifeguard who worked as a rescue swimmer and swim instructor during his time in the Navy.

“I still had to help people learn how to swim and try to help people become better swimmers,” Ceja said.

After eight years in the Navy, Ceja said he decided to leave because he didn’t agree with the politics.

“I’m not a big fan of politics, but you have to deal with it,” Ceja said.

After leaving the Navy, Ceja started attending the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2000. While studying at UIC, Ceja became the assistant coach at Northside College Prep.

“My old swim coach in high school was the first swimming coach here, so when he found out I was getting out of the Navy, he asked me to help him out,” Ceja said.

In 2003, Ceja was called back into the Navy and had to leave his studies and coaching job. Ceja graduated from UIC in December 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a concentration in movement science.

Ceja uses his background in kinesiology to improve his swimmer’s technique, as well as preventing and treating injuries.

“For a long time here at Northside we didn’t have an athletic trainer. We just started getting one maybe four or five years ago and they’re only here maybe two or three times a week. So whenever someone got hurt I had to do something to help them out,” Ceja said.

Assigning good stretches before swim practice, having an easy warm-up that swimmer’s can ease into and teaching proper technique are all ways to help prevent injuries, Ceja said.

Ceja was born and raised in Chicago by parents from Michoacán, Mexico. He is the youngest of six siblings, and he is the only one in his family that became a dedicated swimmer. He spent his summers in the pool at River Park. Ceja worked for the Chicago Park District as a lifeguard at River Park for three years and 57^th Street Beach for five summers.

When Ceja began coaching at Northside College Prep, he was surprised by the parental support the team received compared to the lack of support apparent during his high school years on the swim team.

“It’s completely different. I’d say the majority of my teammates were Latino. There was rarely ever a time there were parents in the stands. There were always friends, girlfriends and other students. I never really saw the parent support there. A lot of it is because the parents are working,” Ceja said.

Latino parents focused on working to support the family and keeping their kids off the streets, said Ceja. According to Ceja, parental support for Latino teams has grown.

“Curie High School is a big Latino swim team. It’s small, but their majority is Latino. I see their parents coming into the meets, even here at Northside. The kids that swim at the Chicago Park District, their parents are showing up to those meets. And it’s great,” Ceja said.

Ceja founded the Northside Aquatics Club to provide a stable practice facility for swimmers. He said promoting the sport and keeping kids interested in swimming during the year is one of his challenges.

“You need kids that are dedicated to the sport in order to become successful at it,” Ceja said.

UIC swimming coach Noelle Wilhite’s role in injury prevention

No pain no gain, right?

Wrong. According to Noelle Wilhite, assistant varsity coach for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an athlete’s performance will suffer if an injury is left untreated.

Wilhite said there are ways to help prevent injuries in swimmers by designing creative training programs. Wilhite has coached swimming for 13 years and triathlon since 2003. She uses her triathlon training and coaching background as a way to cross train her swimmers.

“If I know today is an aerobic conditioning day, I can have some of that be dryland. Lets go jump rope and do some med ball stuff and plyometrics, and then get in and swim and then do a little sprinting,” Wilhite said.

 Wilhite said cross training not only avoids stroke repetition, but also helps prevent injuries and keeps athletes focused to counteract the burnout of swimming laps everyday.

“The more you do that one activity, the higher risk of injury. It not only keeps them mentally stimulated, interested, and also improves their athleticism. But it certainly prevents injury,” Wilhite said.

Starting the season with aerobic-based conditioning and slowly increasing the volume of swimming, introducing equipment and sprinting later on in the training programs to prevent injuries is important said Wilhite.

According to Wilhite, shoulder injuries are the most common problem swimmers face.

“The freestyle stroke can lead to shoulder injuries if the mechanics aren’t correct. I’d say that’s another thing we really try to be diligent about—stroke mechanics and skill and drill work because proper stroke technique leads to less injuries,” Wilhite said.

 Wilhite said head coach, Paul Moniak and her highly recommend athletes to condition and train during their off season to keep a high-level of physical fitness. Depending on the situation, Wilhite would tell an athlete who has a history of injuries to decrease their swimming and work on cycling, running and different dryland activities.

“We advocate a lot of cross training, so that maintaining fitness, even touching the water a couple times a week, the body gets a break from the repetitive movement,” Wilhite said.

 Wilhite said she encourages athletes to inform their coaches of any injuries or irritations they may have to treat injuries as quickly as possible to avoid lifetime injury.

“Living with chronic pain is no way to live,” Wilhite said.

Congrats to swimmers who competed in the Express Trick-or-Treat meet in Downers Grove

Congrats to swimmers who competed in Arena Fall Classic meet

Swimmers warm-up for the Arena Fall Classic meet hosted by the St. Charles Swim Club.

Dear Urban Swimming Chicago reader

Dear Reader,

Thank you for visiting Urban Swimming Chicago, I hope you enjoy reading about coaches' perspectives, athlete features and swimming tips. My goal is to provide a hub of information about swimming, focusing on high school and club teams.

Over the past couple of months I have watched the number of page hits increase on days where I have posted an article about an athlete or a coach. The majority of my audience is from the United States with 1,068 views from last month, Indonesia came in second with 23 views, and Ukraine is third with six views. Overall, readers from 10 different countries have discovered Urban Swimming Chicago.

The "Chicago swimmer Rebeca Martinez qualifies for Junior Nationals and Speedo Sectionals" article topped the popular posts with 144 views. This article may be the most popular because it is about a Chicago high school athlete with many state records under her belt. Martinez said she shared the article with friends and family who are active in the swimming community.

The "St. Ignatius swimming head coach David Stephens leads his teams to win IHSA Sectional Championships" is the second most popular article with 87 views. David Stephens is well known within the Chicago area as the head coach of St. Ignatius men and women’s swimming and diving teams, as well as founder and head coach of the Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club. He has been active within the swimming community in Chicago for 13 years.

I send a copy of the finished product to the interviewee to see my work before posting articles onto the blog and to make sure everything written about them is accurate. 

I hope, reader, that this insight of who my audience is has been helpful. I post an article every Thursday, along with pictures of my swim meet adventures and swimming tips. 

And remember: Just keep swimming!

Sincerely,

Monica Stabile

Urban Swimming Chicago

The Guide to a Perfect Breaststroke Technique

Speedo created a video, presented by ProSwimwear to help improve breaststroke technique. 
Let me know what you think!

Watch: Speedo Swim Technique

Little urban swimmer gets ready for the Patriot Games Meet

Patriot Games swim meet hosted by Patriot Aquatic Club in Lincolnshire, Ill. 2013.

Swimmers competing at Patriot Games

Congratulations to all swimmers who competed this past weekend at the Patriot Games, hosted by the Patriot Aquatic Club in Lincolnshire, Ill. 2013

Ultimate Swimming coach Pierre Ruffin empowering black and Latino swimmers

“My coaches used to always tell us to remember that you were just as good as everybody else.”

Pierre Ruffin, head coach of Ultimate Swimming, a year-round competitive swim club in Hillside, Ill., described the challenges of being one of the few African-American coaches for Illinois Swimming. Back in the 1950s and 1960s when racial discrimination was the norm, Ruffin said athletes had to produce great results to prove they were just as good as a Caucasian athlete and coach.

Ruffin said he was often questioned at swim meets for why he was standing on the deck since only officials, coaches, athletes and volunteer timers were allowed on the deck.

“I could understand at the time because they didn’t realize or understand that there were black coaches or black coaches trying to get involved in the sport at that time,” Ruffin said.

Ruffin-- like the author of this blog, a club coach for Illinois Swimming said athletes are not special because of their race, ethnicity or gender, but because of their talent.

“The only special thing about you is your ability to swim like everybody else, your ability to work hard, your ability to be able to say, “Here I am. I can do this and get out and prove it” and that’s the only way I think you can really help minorities in this sport of swimming,” Ruffin said.

Ruffin said he hopes to pave a way for future coaches.

“When other minority coaches want to get involved with swimming, I feel that they will, because of what I’m able to do, it’ll make it easier for other people to give them an opportunity to coach and be a head coach and not feel that just because I’m a minority, I’m unable to do this or to do that or to train their kids and bring them to a level of excellent swimming,” Ruffin said.

Joliet Jets host Ghostly Gathering swim meet at UIC

Congrats to swimmers who competed at UIC during the Ghostly Gathering meet!

Academy Bullets host Speedo Fall Open swim meet

Chicago swimmer Rebeca Martinez qualifies for Junior Nationals and Speedo Sectionals

Rebeca Martinez, 17, swimming state qualifier who holds multiple state records and has qualified for the Junior National Meet, the Speedo Sectional Meet and State Championships.

During Junior Nationals, Martinez set a new team record in the 200 backstroke placing 53^rd. The 800 freestyle relay team of Martinez, Marysol Arce, Nikol Lagodzinska and Charlotte Rosenberg swam the first Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club (CWAC) relay at Junior Nationals finishing 41^st and setting a new team record. Martinez cut 2.5 seconds off her team record in the 400 individual medley finishing 54^th. The 400 freestyle relay team of Lagodzinska, Martinez, Natalie Tapia and Rosenberg finished 17th to mark the highest ever finish in team history and break the team record by more than 3 seconds.

Martinez is a senior at St. Ignatius College Prep where she holds multiple swimming records. For the 2012 season, she established five new records in the 200 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

Martinez grew up in Brighton Park, a Southwest Side Chicago neighborhood. She has been swimming for 12 years. She started swimming at Kelly High School with the Chicago Park District (CPD) when she was 5. Later at 9, she swam for the CPD Swim Club until she was 14. When Martinez began high school in 2010 at St. Ignatius, she joined CWAC, competing for them when she's not swimming for high school.

Martinez said swimming plays a big part in her life.

“After a stressful day at school, I look forward to swimming because I can calm down and it relaxes me and it makes me feel good,” Martinez said.

Martinez said her biggest accomplishment as an athlete was qualifying for the Junior National Meet, the Speedo Sectional Meet and State Championships. Martinez said she was surprised she qualified for those meets because she began the long course season late after playing water polo at St. Ignatius.

“Especially at State last year, I wasn’t expecting that at all but it was a big drop so I was just really happy about that, especially because it’s harder than ISI meets,” Martinez said.

Martinez said she still gets nervous during competitions and she mentally prepares each time.

“I think about the strokes, touching the wall and pushing off and after I’m done, looking up at the scoreboard and seeing the times,” Martinez said.

Masters and Swim Clubs in the City of Chicago

Click on a team's name to be directed to their website.

Club Swim Teams

• Chicago Latin Swim Club
• Chicago Park District
• Chicago South Swim Club
• Chicago Wolfpack Aquatic Club
• Iguanas Swim Club
• Midway Aquatics Club
• Northside Aquatics
• UIC Aquatics
• Whitney Young Aquatics

Masters Swim Teams

• Chicago Blue Dolphins 
• Chicago Masters
• Chicago Smelts
• Lakeshore SF Masters
• Max Multisport
• Mt. Greenwood Masters
• Westloop Athletic Club Masters

For more information about club swimming in Illinois, visit Illinois Swimming.

St. Ignatius swimming head coach David Stephens leads his teams to win IHSA Sectional Championships

The women’s team took first place in the 2012 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Sectional Championship for the eighth year running and eighth place in the IHSA State Championships last fall. The team set 11 new team records during the season. The men’s team set five new team records during their season in addition to winning the IHSA Sectional Championship for the tenth straight year.

Stephens says, “In my eleven years at St. Ignatius the program has had 80 state qualifiers for 344 events, 81 NISCA All-Americans, 277 sectional champions and 111 conference champions.”

David Stephens is the head swimming and diving coach of St. Ignatius College Prep. Stephens has been coaching the men and women’s varsity teams for 13 years.

Stephens grew up in Atlanta, Ga., where he started swimming at an early age with the Dynamo Swim Club. He was an All-American at Marist High School. Stephens attended the University of Michigan where he swam all four years.

Stephens lists some of the challenges he faces in his position as a high school coach to one of the top Catholic schools in Chicago: athletes without a strong swimming background, culturally-diverse athletes, and most of all, suburban high school swim teams including Loyola Academy, Fenwick High School and Rosary High School, which have more experienced swimmers, better facilities, and full time coaches.

“A lot of the kids who come here initially hadn’t had a swimming background, so we’re dealing with kids who are relatively new to the sport,” says Stephens. On the other hand, Stephens says the swimmers who have developed their swimming abilities at swim clubs and within the Chicago Park District have a stronger skill set.

“With the development of the club program here, other club programs and the Chicago Park District developing better swimmers, kids are coming in here with more background, so that’s helped us compete in a higher level with a lot of the suburban schools and other Catholic League schools,” Stephens says.

Stephens says he uses different approaches to coach the men’s and women’s teams. The women’s team can handle workouts and school work better than men’s team, says Stephens.

“A lot of the girls, they are usually tougher, they can handle more intensity and workload, but they also need more socialization time,” Stephens says.

Stephens says the men need less socialization time because they tend to be more competitive with one another.

Stephens says he realized he wanted to be a swim coach while attending the John Marshall Law School. He says he found he enjoyed coaching, working with the kids and creating meaningful relationships with them and their families much more than attending school.

“I enjoy law. I find it interesting. But I found that the relationships that I was having with the families and the kids here was much more meaningful and rewarding than what I was doing in law school,” Stephens says.

Stephens says one of his personal goals is to promote swimming. According to Stephens, the number of swimmers in Chicago is increasing, along with qualifying for state championship meets.

“Giving those kids in the city more recognition. It’s unfortunate that newspapers don’t give them publicity,” Stephens says.

Keep Calm and Swim On

Goodbye summer! We'll miss you.

Chicago water polo coach, Brian Ruiz, pushes his athletes to succeed

Ruiz, a water polo coach, has been working for the Chicago Park District (CPD) since 2002. Ruiz is a former CPD athlete who grew up within the park district.

Ruiz teaches them “not only water polo skills, but life skills” by talking to them one on one. 

Ruiz says that by playing water polo, athletes learn to be respectful, disciplined and courteous. Ruiz's definition of a success story is “a kid that comes in and works hard, doesn’t have the best life, I know I grew up with a lot of kids that were dealt a bad hand, parents, family, where their family members were in gangs. My success story for me would be a kid put into a situation, where he can succeed with minimal help.”

Ruiz spoke about encouraging his athletes to eat right and stay away from Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Many of the challenges with coaching is getting the athletes to keep a healthy diet for not only better performance, but for their own benefit. “The generation now,  parents are more health conscious and are trying to give their kids better food. Better food translates into healthier kids, and into better athletes.”

Ruiz says that growing up and living in the city definitely gave him an edge.
“You have to deal with a lot of elements that are unexpected.”
Ruiz says coaches in the city have to deal with gangs, shootings, and people from different walks of life.
“You have to have thick skin to grow up in the city.” Ruiz says that living in the city gives someone an edge.
“If they can take that edge and translate it into the water positively, then that’s a win for me.” 

Ruiz says the most rewarding aspect to be a coach “would be having the kids use the techniques you teach them and applying them. Just watching the fruits of your labor. But not only that, if you teach them to be respectful... and you see them mature as players, and as human beings.”

Ruiz has many years of coaching experience, has a real-life connection to his athletes, both in and out of the water. Ruiz says he continues to make a difference in the lives of inner-city kids that just want to play water polo.

Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte named USOC athletes of the month

Congratulations to Missy Franklin and Ryan Lochte!

Franklin and Lochte have been named the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) athletes of the month.