Piranhas swim club rebranding, but focus remains on post-pandemic growth
The Poulsbo Piranhas are changing their name, but not their focus.
That's the word from Piranhas board president Jeff Hays as the competitive youth swim club heads toward its 2023-24 season-opening meet in September as the Pacific Piranha Swim Team. North Kitsap Community Pool will continue to serve as the club's headquarters, but club stake-holders want to make it clear that swimmers living outside of Poulsbo are welcome to join the team.
"Even though our home pool is in Poulsbo and is where the team started, we wanted to alter the name into something that does not indicate a geographic boundary," Hays said.
Once the idea of expansion took hold, Hays said rebranding made sense.
Pacific Piranha Swim Team, which will double as the club's trade name for Washington state business purposes, also allows the club to keep the same "team code" — PPST — within USA Swimming, the sport's governing body. A new club logo, club banner and an updated team website is also in the works this summer.
Over the past two decades, the sport of swimming ranks near the top in terms of producing premier professional athletes with Kitsap County ties. Nathan Adrian, Dana and Tark Kirk, Emily Silver — all former U.S. Olympians. At the high school level, four schools — Bainbridge, North Kitsap, Kingston and Olympic — have captured team titles at the state championships in recent years.
There have been challenges within the sport locally, too. There have been numerous facility closures related to failing equipment and aging systems (Olympic Aquatic Center, South Kitsap Community Pool) and needed modifications (North Kitsap Community Pool). The Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center is due to close both its pools for a short period in August for maintenance-related issues.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic closed pools — or significantly limited operations — for much of 2020 and 2021. The pandemic is one of the reasons the Piranhas landed current coach Ron Allen, former head coach at the University of South Dakota. An Oregon native, Allen left his collegiate position to head up a club team in Salem. That team went belly up went the pandemic arrived.
"That kind of forced my hand to be looking around," Allen said.
Joining the Piranhas as head coach and team manager in 2020, Allen said the club managed to stay afloat despite its home pool being closed for two years. Swimmers spent time travelling all over to get water access in other communities where pools were operating.
"We were playing it month to month, just like everybody else, thinking this thing would be short-lived," Allen said. “Not knowing was the most difficult.”
With pool closures and pandemic limitations seemingly in the rearview mirror, Hays and Allen are hopeful the Piranhas can continue to grow as one of several youth clubs in Kitsap; others include Bainbridge Island Swim Club, Bremerton YMCA Swim Team and Puget Sound Swim Club in Port Orchard. A decade ago, the Piranhas had upward of 110-115 swimmers participating. There are currently 60 swimmers ages 6-18 competing now in three groups based on age and ability: bronze, silver and gold. Most Piranha swimmers are in elementary and middle school.
“We’ve got a group of 12-and-unders now that are starting to develop at a pretty high level, so there’s a lot of potential in the future," Allen said.
There is a minimum requirement for ability level to join the Piranhas: swimmers must be able to swim 25 yards (freestyle and backstroke) utilizing proper breathing and kick techniques. The club does offer a month-long, two-session per week "pre-comp" training group where coaches work with swimmers to achieve those standards.
“That has been a great thing for those people who are just on the edge," Hays said.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Piranhas swim club rebranding, but focus remains on post-COVID growth
