BY SARAH BARBAN, Eastern Shore Post —
This season the Onley Recreation Association swim team, the Skimmers, has qualified more swimmers for the Delmarva Swim Association championships than ever before, and the season isn’t over yet.
More than 40 members of the team have qualified so far. The previous record was 37 swimmers, a hurdle that was crossed just two years ago.
“Roughly about one-third of a typical team will qualify for that,” said Joseph Cuba, assistant coach for the Skimmers.
“We’ve been qualifying more people for that than we used to have on the team. We’re at not quite 50%.”
The swimmers with the Onley Recreation Association team range from age 4 to 18. In 2026 the team had seven meets scheduled, as well as the championship.
There are a little over 20 teams in the association. Last year the Skimmers took second place in the second highest division of the championships.
The team has also consistently placed first or second in the middle division.
The Onley Recreation Association team, which has just under 100 swimmers, is competing against teams that are made up of predominantly year-round swimmers, whereas the Skimmers team is made up of less than 50% year-round swimmers. Those who can swim year-round practice at the Eastern Shore Family YMCA in the winter.
In addition to support from the YMCA, the team also received a United Way grant to pay three junior coaches.
Jack Turner said he enjoys being a junior coach because as one of the only 15 to 18 boys in the program he wanted to provide the kind of support he received from older swimmers when he came up through the program.
“Swimming taught me to try and be the best person you can,” he said. “When you’re a little kid cheering your teammates on and when you’re an older kid cheering your teammates on and the little kids, it’s about being that hype person that’s not negative in any aspect.”
The junior coaches have also walked in the shoes of younger swimmers, junior coach Mary Katherine Langley said.
“We have a personal view from what the kids are going through when they’re training,” she said. “We know the exhaustion, the pain, and the endurance and then finally being happy when you reach your goal.”
A decade ago the team only had about 50 members, but through the hard work of coaches, parents, and the community the program has built to this season, Cuba said.
“Each person that has come along has taken what the other person is doing and added a little more to it to build it,” he said.
The Skimmers are having a record season, but winning isn’t everything. Swimmers learn about endurance, teamwork, and physical fitness, Cuba said.
“It’s summertime. Otherwise, kids would be sitting indoors watching TV or on screens,” he said.
“It gets the kids outside, it gives them exercise, challenges them to better themselves and push themselves to become a better person. We’re here to develop them as people.”
