Support the Blue Marlins Swim Team

Help Support The Blue Marlins Swim Team Anytime You Make a Purchase From This Site!

As many of you know the Blue Marlins Swim Team is in need of a new timer and the timers do not come cheap, the cost is approximately $5000.00! This site was created to help generate the funds necessary to purchase the new timer as well as other needed equipment for the team. 

Every time something is purchased from the links on this site 100% of the retail profit will be donated to the team to help raise the funds and bring us closer to the goal of getting the new equipment and ensuring that our children have access to the very best the swim team has to offer. It's nice to know that you can actually get items you are already purchasing while helping to support the Blue Marlins. Many of these items would make excellent Holiday gifts!

WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT

About the Blue Marlins

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE

The Cranston YMCA Blue Marlin Swim Team is a year-round swim program which offers a guided competitive program for swimmers age 6 to 21.  Swimming ability ranges from the beginning swimmer to the most competitive and skilled swimmer.
Team members learn the values of sportsmanship and teamwork.  Swimming, through the Blue Marlin Swim Team, provides physical, emotional and intellectual skills that will last a lifetime.
The Team’s mission, grounded on the four YMCA character values of respect, responsibility, caring and honesty, is: To inspire and motivate young people to develop positive habits of character along with the 

necessary technical skill to achieve their potential in the pursuit of excellence.

• Determination is an act of the will in which an end is firmly fixed and vigorously pursued. It is the quality of being resolute while working hard to achieve a goal.
• Fortitude is the physical and inner strength to stay the course notwithstanding disappointment and setbacks.
• Excellence is superior performance which is the fruit of hard work and preparation: it is more than merely trying one’s best.  While excellence may seem impossible to achieve in the fullest sense, we encourage our athletes to strive after excellence.

HISTORY

The Blue Marlin Swim Team was started in the early 1970’s. The Team is part of the South Eastern New England Community of YMCAs (SENECY) Swim League.  For many years the team’s orientation had been developmental rather than competitive.  In recent years, the team has expanded to include a more comprehensive competitive swim program for our community.  The team now swims throughout the year and is a registered USA Swim club.  Last season the team achieved “A” Division status and we had more swimmers qualify for the New England Championship than ever before.

Meet the Coaches

Head Coach: Louis Arruda
Louis Arruda continues to swim competitively, after having enjoyed a successful career at Springfield College. Coach Lou first gained coaching experience with the Long Island Aquatic Club in New York (LIAC), as a volunteer assistant on the Junior team. He continues to gain further experience as a result of volunteering with the Bluefish Swim Club in Attleboro, MA, working with their Senior Group. He began coaching at the Cranston YMCA in 2005, and continues to work with the Senior group and the Junior B group, though he is involved with the coordination of the entire team.

Coach: Jim O'Connor 

Jim O’Connor enjoyed swimming competitively during his youth, and has played an active role in the growth and development of the Blue Marlins Swim Team. Coach Jim has served as a coach on the team for several years and is also in charge of the swim teams and stroke technique clinics held in the spring and summer. Jim works with all levels on the Blue Marlins Swim Team.

Coach: Carol Vigeant 
Carol Vigeant swam competitively as a child through high school in Kingston, NY. She has worked for and been a volunteer with the YMCA for nearly 18 years, working in Aquatics for about 12 years. Carol has worked with the Kent County YMCA swim team and the Barracuda Swim Team in Kerhonkson, NY. This is her third season with the Blue Marlins Swim Team. Coach Carol works with the Junior A, Junior B, and Mini Marlins.