History of Storm Swimming
Did you know that STORM has only been around for twelve years? But, it has an interesting history to its beginnings. STORM was born out of two teams: one with a long decorated competitive history merging with a newer up and coming team.
It all started in 1968. Ray Raudonis and Peter Plante were the head coaches for the new swim team called the Nashua YMCA Prospectors that practiced at the YMCA on Prospect Street. The Prospectors were a strong team and its eyes were set on gold. By only its third year in 1971, it was known to have the top twelve and under age group swimmers in NH. In three more years (1974), they had multiple record holders in New England. During this year, Greg Derderian, a current lifetime member of the Greater Nashua YMCA, joined the team as an assistant coach. He later took over in the early 1980’s as the longtime head coach.
The team continued swimming strong through the years with an average size of 80 swimmers. “There was a whole shelf of trophies,” recalls Karen Thomas (former Prospectors and STORM swim parent). By 1983, the Prospectors won ten NH YMCA Championships in a row. They won back to back state championships in 1975-1976 and 1982-1983, and never placed below third. Not only were they state champs, they competed on the national level as well. In the 1980’s, the Prospectors had on average three to four swimmers who qualified for YMCA Nationals every year. They reached a high point in 1987, when nine swimmers qualified. The team also graduated and produced nationally ranked swimmers.
In 1992, the Nashua YMCA bought the Merrimack Athletic Club, which it turned into the Merrimack YMCA branch that we know today. In 1999, there was a group of about twenty kids who began swimming as an unofficial swim team, calling themselves the Marlins. They needed a coach, so the new Aquatics Director, Amy Doyle, began coaching them in September 2000. With the help of swim parents and the Assistant Aquatics Director, Krystle Pelletier, they officially formed the Merrimack Marlins swim team. After one year, they were joined by Coach Corey Sullivan. Over the years, they continued to grow in size to about 80-90 swimmers. Between 2000 to 2005, their swimming got better and better until they won the state championships.
However, by 2006, both the Prospectors and Marlins were having trouble finding enough coaches for their teams. Together, though, they would have more than enough. In the fall of 2006, the two teams merged. Coach Corey became the head coach.
The swimmers picked their new team’s name by voting for their favorite ideas. Some of these were put forward by Coach Amy, who stayed with the team until 2010. The majority voted for “STORM”.
Today, STORM is a group of 140+ swimmers with kids ages 5 through 18. In our short life, we have started to make our own history and take the swimming world by storm. The team sent their first two swimmers to YMCA Nationals in 2011- something the Marlins had never done and that the Prospectors missed in over 15 years! We continued at Y Nationals in 2013 with three swimmers and in 2014 with four. We also have some familiar and longstanding faces on the team. Coach Mike Hirst has been with the team for almost 10 years and was originally from the Merrimack Marlins. He likes the YMCA philosophy and that everyone is accepted with a place to swim no matter what. Coach Erin was a coach during STORM’s early years and has come back to join us after a brief break. Coach Mike Desmond is a Storm alumnus and continues to compete for Storm as a masters swimmer.
Even though STORM is still fairly young, we have a rich history and carry on the legacy of the two former teams.
**Thank you to Coach Mike Hirst, Ms. Amy Doyle, and Ms. Karen Thomas for their contributions to this article. Additional historical information was also gathered from various Nashua Telegraph articles.
