The year was 1988 and I was starting my sophomore year at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, NY. I had a choice of going to 1 of 4 high schools in the city. Because of desegregation there were specialized programs at each high school to encourage kids to travel from their neighborhoods. Roosevelt had a commercial art program which had received a great deal of funding. They had acquired new Apple "Mac" computers and the latest desktop publishing software. This would be my new school.
I called a friend that I went to Hawthorne with before the start of the school year because we had both chosen Roosevelt. She had announced to me that we wouldn't be hanging out anymore because I wasn't cool enough. I wore long jean skirts and that just wasn't "in-style". She told me her goal was to be popular and I would be holding her back. This statement became very amusing to me by the end of my Junior year, so keep it in the back of your mind.
My mom had mentioned that there was a swim team at Roosevelt and suggested that I try out. The first thing that shot though my mind was, "Gee, am I going to be fast enough?" I wasn't very fast on the Silver Streaks, so I was very concerned about this. I was hoping I would make it and was very nervous.
I remember trying out and was pretty shocked. Immediately, I was one of the fastest people on the team behind a couple of senior boys and girl. I couldn't believe that I finally wasn't "slow". In the pool and as well as the rest of the world, everything is relative.
Unfortunately, during this time in Yonkers, Linden Street pool had been closed. There was no budget to renovate the pool, so our team along with the other 3 city teams were bused to South Yonkers to train. We had the YMCA, YWCA and Yonkers Avenue pool to train in. These pools were not an ideal training ground. All of these pools are only 20 yards long and very small. The shortest standard pool for competitive swimming is 25 yards. The YMCA and YWCA were always unbearably hot (80+ degrees). The water was so cloudy you couldn't see the pools bottom black lines at the other end. Yonkers Avenue was the best pool at that time to train in. It had clear water and wasn't unbearably hot but it was rarely available. We were lucky if we swam 2 - 3 times a week and sometimes we shared the pool with another Yonkers High School team. We took a bus to practice and to go to meets because we had no home pool.
After being on the team for a few months I had immediately missed swimming on the Silver Streaks because of our numbers, lack of training time and poor facilities. I remember asking my mom if I could go back, knowing it wouldn't be a reality to return. She said, "I think it's a little to late for that".
Roosevelt's swim team was coached by Mike Lietner. "O.k. Darling" was a classic catch phrase of Lietner's. He was the type of coach that had tremendous heart, always kept you positive, had a contagious humor, LOVED S&S cheesecake and spoke in tons of metaphors. He was also incredibly patient. When you are a swimmer that wears friendship bracelets that almost get you DQ'd, you have to have a patient coach. He ran after me that day to cut them off with scissors as I was really upset and did not want to lose them. I also remember the secret strategies (as a result of our dark humor) that we would develop. We dreamed of bringing opposing teams swimmers to all you can eat buffets the night before a meet to slow them down.
My memory was a little foggy when I started writing this post so I used my "truffle pig" powers to find Coach Lietner after 20+ years. I was really curious about his background as a swim coach and really wanted to get more of a backstory.
Mike Lietner was raised in a NYC firehouse. His father was a wine & liquor salesman and is mother was a bookkeeper in the millinery trade. Both parents worked in NYC and his father used to drop him off at the firehouse during the day. He loves everything to do with firefighting and is a volunteer fireman still to this day. In 1964, Mike Lietner started his career at Gorton High School in Yonkers as a health and Phys-Ed teacher. The next year, he moved to Roosevelt High School and became the high school swim coach as well. He was also a student of Roosevelt High School. Coach had worked as director at the following pools: Lake Isle Country Club, Hiltop Swim Club and Ridge Hill Center.
I asked him, how did he get into coaching swimming? He said he saw the job opening, got a couple of books, watched a couple of videos and had the total confidence that he could do it. As I struggled to remember what we did and what his coaching techniques were, he reminded me that, " If you have a horse, you can win the race." He told me his secret was, "You just need a couple of horses", "Go with the horses", he said laughing. What he meant by this was you just needed a few really strong swimmers and you were golden. I'm proud to say that I was one of those "horses". Stretching on deck, Mad dog, chasing the swimmer in front of you, warming up with a 500, kicking than pulling... were the fragments of what we could remember together. Something was going right with whatever we were doing because despite the deplorable conditions, my times improved.
When I had first joined the team my mom had met Dorothy Rakov. They both noticed that when we used to show up for meets at other pools, we looked like we had fallen out of a "rag bag". There were no team uniforms and we looked like a motley mix of long lost orphans. Together they formed the "Parents for Better Swimming Committee". My mom wrote a letter to the Director of Athletics at the time and was able to secure a budget for team uniforms. Ironically, Gay Silverman coach of the Silver Streaks made all the team suits. This battle we were able to win and because of it we were able to look like a unified team.
By the time I had hit my Junior year, I was living in a reality that was hardly believable and dreamlike. I became captain of the swim team. My sister joined the team and along with the Rakov brothers we were a bunch of really strong "horses". I also had met another fellow artist in my commercial art classes who would become my best friend and boyfriend. Now remember that catty comment I told you about at the beginning of the chapter? Well he happened to be the class president, home coming king, quarterback on the football team... Mr. Popular. Funny isn't it? It's amazing how you can transform from being a total loser nerd to one of the "popular kids" by association in a matter of a year. Life never ceases to amaze me.
This same group of girls though, through the grapevine said that I would be black balled for the rest of my life because," How could I date someone that was black?" "No man will ever date her again". Yeah... that came out of peoples mouths. It was an interesting time for sure. Must be hard being unpopular.
By the time I reached my Senior year, our team had become stronger and stronger. But our team still lost against any school outside of Yonkers. Because we lacked a home pool we had no hope of competing against schools that did. At the end of each season, the Yonkers All-City meet, which was held for all Yonkers swimmers to compete against each other from the different high schools was held at Mount Vernon High School pool. Mark Twain Junior High pool was in the process of being built. This 25 yard pool would become the future home pool for Yonkers high school swim teams and the Yonkers Dept. of Parks and Recreation. Also, during this year, I had broken up with my boyfriend but we were still friends and seeing each other. A lot of people stopped saying hi to me because they were shocked that we would break up. My Senior year was an incredibly lonely one. It's amazing how fake people can be. I learned I was simply popular by association.
I had made sectionals but didn't make states because I didn't have the proper facilities to train. Coach Lietner had nominated me for a ConEd Scholarship. I made the wall of fame. The Yonkers All-City meet had come and gone and just like that my competitive swimming journey ended. I was going to art school anyway and didn't choose to apply to liberal art schools that would have had a swim team.
I called a friend that I went to Hawthorne with before the start of the school year because we had both chosen Roosevelt. She had announced to me that we wouldn't be hanging out anymore because I wasn't cool enough. I wore long jean skirts and that just wasn't "in-style". She told me her goal was to be popular and I would be holding her back. This statement became very amusing to me by the end of my Junior year, so keep it in the back of your mind.
My mom had mentioned that there was a swim team at Roosevelt and suggested that I try out. The first thing that shot though my mind was, "Gee, am I going to be fast enough?" I wasn't very fast on the Silver Streaks, so I was very concerned about this. I was hoping I would make it and was very nervous.
I remember trying out and was pretty shocked. Immediately, I was one of the fastest people on the team behind a couple of senior boys and girl. I couldn't believe that I finally wasn't "slow". In the pool and as well as the rest of the world, everything is relative.
Unfortunately, during this time in Yonkers, Linden Street pool had been closed. There was no budget to renovate the pool, so our team along with the other 3 city teams were bused to South Yonkers to train. We had the YMCA, YWCA and Yonkers Avenue pool to train in. These pools were not an ideal training ground. All of these pools are only 20 yards long and very small. The shortest standard pool for competitive swimming is 25 yards. The YMCA and YWCA were always unbearably hot (80+ degrees). The water was so cloudy you couldn't see the pools bottom black lines at the other end. Yonkers Avenue was the best pool at that time to train in. It had clear water and wasn't unbearably hot but it was rarely available. We were lucky if we swam 2 - 3 times a week and sometimes we shared the pool with another Yonkers High School team. We took a bus to practice and to go to meets because we had no home pool.
After being on the team for a few months I had immediately missed swimming on the Silver Streaks because of our numbers, lack of training time and poor facilities. I remember asking my mom if I could go back, knowing it wouldn't be a reality to return. She said, "I think it's a little to late for that".
Roosevelt's swim team was coached by Mike Lietner. "O.k. Darling" was a classic catch phrase of Lietner's. He was the type of coach that had tremendous heart, always kept you positive, had a contagious humor, LOVED S&S cheesecake and spoke in tons of metaphors. He was also incredibly patient. When you are a swimmer that wears friendship bracelets that almost get you DQ'd, you have to have a patient coach. He ran after me that day to cut them off with scissors as I was really upset and did not want to lose them. I also remember the secret strategies (as a result of our dark humor) that we would develop. We dreamed of bringing opposing teams swimmers to all you can eat buffets the night before a meet to slow them down.
My memory was a little foggy when I started writing this post so I used my "truffle pig" powers to find Coach Lietner after 20+ years. I was really curious about his background as a swim coach and really wanted to get more of a backstory.
Mike Lietner was raised in a NYC firehouse. His father was a wine & liquor salesman and is mother was a bookkeeper in the millinery trade. Both parents worked in NYC and his father used to drop him off at the firehouse during the day. He loves everything to do with firefighting and is a volunteer fireman still to this day. In 1964, Mike Lietner started his career at Gorton High School in Yonkers as a health and Phys-Ed teacher. The next year, he moved to Roosevelt High School and became the high school swim coach as well. He was also a student of Roosevelt High School. Coach had worked as director at the following pools: Lake Isle Country Club, Hiltop Swim Club and Ridge Hill Center.
I asked him, how did he get into coaching swimming? He said he saw the job opening, got a couple of books, watched a couple of videos and had the total confidence that he could do it. As I struggled to remember what we did and what his coaching techniques were, he reminded me that, " If you have a horse, you can win the race." He told me his secret was, "You just need a couple of horses", "Go with the horses", he said laughing. What he meant by this was you just needed a few really strong swimmers and you were golden. I'm proud to say that I was one of those "horses". Stretching on deck, Mad dog, chasing the swimmer in front of you, warming up with a 500, kicking than pulling... were the fragments of what we could remember together. Something was going right with whatever we were doing because despite the deplorable conditions, my times improved.
When I had first joined the team my mom had met Dorothy Rakov. They both noticed that when we used to show up for meets at other pools, we looked like we had fallen out of a "rag bag". There were no team uniforms and we looked like a motley mix of long lost orphans. Together they formed the "Parents for Better Swimming Committee". My mom wrote a letter to the Director of Athletics at the time and was able to secure a budget for team uniforms. Ironically, Gay Silverman coach of the Silver Streaks made all the team suits. This battle we were able to win and because of it we were able to look like a unified team.
By the time I had hit my Junior year, I was living in a reality that was hardly believable and dreamlike. I became captain of the swim team. My sister joined the team and along with the Rakov brothers we were a bunch of really strong "horses". I also had met another fellow artist in my commercial art classes who would become my best friend and boyfriend. Now remember that catty comment I told you about at the beginning of the chapter? Well he happened to be the class president, home coming king, quarterback on the football team... Mr. Popular. Funny isn't it? It's amazing how you can transform from being a total loser nerd to one of the "popular kids" by association in a matter of a year. Life never ceases to amaze me.
This same group of girls though, through the grapevine said that I would be black balled for the rest of my life because," How could I date someone that was black?" "No man will ever date her again". Yeah... that came out of peoples mouths. It was an interesting time for sure. Must be hard being unpopular.
By the time I reached my Senior year, our team had become stronger and stronger. But our team still lost against any school outside of Yonkers. Because we lacked a home pool we had no hope of competing against schools that did. At the end of each season, the Yonkers All-City meet, which was held for all Yonkers swimmers to compete against each other from the different high schools was held at Mount Vernon High School pool. Mark Twain Junior High pool was in the process of being built. This 25 yard pool would become the future home pool for Yonkers high school swim teams and the Yonkers Dept. of Parks and Recreation. Also, during this year, I had broken up with my boyfriend but we were still friends and seeing each other. A lot of people stopped saying hi to me because they were shocked that we would break up. My Senior year was an incredibly lonely one. It's amazing how fake people can be. I learned I was simply popular by association.
I had made sectionals but didn't make states because I didn't have the proper facilities to train. Coach Lietner had nominated me for a ConEd Scholarship. I made the wall of fame. The Yonkers All-City meet had come and gone and just like that my competitive swimming journey ended. I was going to art school anyway and didn't choose to apply to liberal art schools that would have had a swim team.
