July 19, 2007

Cabana clubs hold annual swim meet; Crossgates Gators celebrate 40 years

By Carol Rosen
Editor

This summer marks a special anniversary for the Crossgates Gators Cabana Club. It’s swim club turns 40 and it still manages to keep that homey community feel it began with in 1967.

The graduating seniors from each cabana team hold up flags in the pool for the national anthem during the opening ceremonies. Photos courtesy of Crossgates Cabana Club.

And, last weekend the Gators met five other teams in a swim meet at Saratoga High School that featured not just the kids from elementary through high school, but also a relay pitting parents of all six teams against each other.

Three of the teams participating were from Almaden. Besides the Gators, there were the Almaden and Shadow Brook Cabana Clubs, which have their own neighborhood rivalry. The three other teams were Branham’s Pinehurst Team, Creekside from Evergreen and Santa Teresa from, of course, Santa Teresa. All the teams are members of the San Jose Cabana League.

In all, more than 900 children competed including high school students. On the Crossgates team there were five high school graduates. They are members of the Golden Gators and have been swimming with the club for at least 10 years. Altogether there were more than 2,000 people at the meet, including parents, family members and friends.

Many of the kids swim year-round for the more competitive swim clubs in the Silicon Valley area. Others may swim for high school teams and/or play water polo. They continue to swim for the Cabana Leagues in the summer because it’s so much fun, said Kirsten Wahl, mother of two of the younger swimmers at the club.

Ryan Wahl (5), Mason King (7), Carly Wahl (7), Julie Rose Joroski (6) and Zoe King (6) - show Gator Pride as they get ready to swim at the 38th Annual Cabana Swim League.

Crossgates was one of the first cabana clubs in the San Jose area. It was formed in 1967 and from that year until 1976, the swimmers were known as the Crossgators. From 1967 to 1971, the club was part of the Valley Swim League, which had three other teams— Cloverdale, Los Ranchitos and Pinehurst. Cross-gates swimmers won the Valley Swim League championships in 1969, 1970 and 1971.

Between 1972 and ’74, the team didn’t belong to a league. Then in 1975, it joined the Cabana League, which also included Palo Rancho, Pinehurst, Santa Teresa and Shadow Brook. Palo Rancho dropped out in 1976 and Almaden joined the league in 1977.

In 1968, the club had 27 families participating for a total of 45 swimmers—23 girls and 22 boys. Six of those 27 families still live in the neighborhood. In 1977, the club had grown to 68 families with 98 swimmers including 46 girls and 52 boys. Twelve of the 68 families continue to live in the neighborhood.

That same year, 1977, Crossgates swimmers won the league title. The club also hosted the meet, which cost nearly $890 to run. Today that would be small change!

Crossgates Gator dads win for the team in the parent relay. From the left are swimmers Mike Hackett with son Cole on his back, John O.'Brien, Christian Murtha and Jeremy Kings.

This year, the club has 90 families with a total of 159 swimmers—81 girls and 78 boys. This year’s team also has one set of triplets, three sets of twins and 15 swimmers the club calls legacies, whose grandparents live in the neighborhood and most of whose parents swam on the team.

That includes Mick Kelso, the current head coach. He swam on the team from 1967 to 1978. He is the son of Jim Kelso, a club founder. And, now there’s a third generation Kelso in the pool—Mick’s 7-year old son Nicholas is one of the Crossgates swimmers.

Club members become really active during the summer when the cabana holds family nights and sleepovers where they bring tents. There also are dinners and when the weather gets a bit colder the group goes to movies and has a Halloween party.

“It’s all about the community. It’s a center for families in the neighborhood to get together and be a community. Even the teenagers still participate in family nights,” said Kristen Wahl. She noted that the club has a board of directors made up of homeowners from the club. It also has a five-year waiting list, she said, noting that all the clubs are quite popular within the neighborhood because of the community and family aspects.