Former MAKO,
Whitney Myers (right), celebrates with Kaitlin Sandeno, their win in the
800m Free Relay during the XI FINA World Championships.
Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
SPLASH * September/October 2005 pg. 26
Welcome to the MAKOS Miami Valley
Aquatic Club 2007/2008 season. We are entering our fourth year
with Head Coach Chris Harsh and look to continue our growth as a
swim club.
Introduction
The Miami Valley Aquatic Club (MAKOS) is a nonprofit year round
swim team associated with United States Swimming, a nationwide
organization of membership clubs that serve over 250,000
competitive swimmers. Most of our families and swimmers come from
Oxford, Ohio, surrounding Butler County, and southeastern Indiana.
The Mako Philosophy
The Miami Valley Aquatic Club is founded on the belief that
age-group; competitive swimming offers an excellent opportunity
for young people to develop not only as athletes but also as
people. Qualities such as self-esteem, sportsmanship, leadership,
commitment, and team play are not developed inherently by youth
sports, but instead are taught through a quality program. The goal
of this program is to take advantage of the numerous opportunities
that age group swimming provides for athletic and personal growth.
Athletic growth will be provided by numerous training
opportunities that allow each swimmer to meet his or her
individual potential. This individual potential may range from the
mastering of basic swimming skills to achieving world-class
recognition. Personal growth is fostered through challenge,
teamwork, skill mastery, commitment to goals, and recognition of
accomplishments. Adherence to this philosophy has resulted in a
quality swimming program, and in athletes who are role models for
their team and community.
We also recognize that significant benefits can be gained by
swimmers who may not interested in competitive swimming, but who
simply wish to either become more proficient, get into or re-main
in good physical shape, or use swimming as a means of cross
training for other sports. While we welcome all who wish to swim
with us, but we will always encourage them to also swim
competitively.
The Facility
Our home pool is located within Miami University’s Corwin M. Nixon
Aquatic Center, an Olympic-size facility completed in November of
1994. The main pool consists of 18 short course lanes of 25 yards
that can be reconfigured into 8 long course lanes of 50 meters.
Over the years, it has hosted many prestigious swimming and diving
events: the Ohio Senior Swimming Champion-ships, the Long Course
Speedo Junior National Championship, the Senior National Diving
Championships, the United States Swimming Central Zone
Championship, the Mid-American Conference Championships, and the
NCAA Division III National Championships. In 2000, it served as
the training facility for the Japanese Olympic Swim Team. We are
truly fortunate to be able to practice and compete in one of the
nation’s premiere facilities
