Foreign athletes help Pioneers defend titles
www.tcpalm.com By Scott Samples staff writer March 5, 2003
FORT PIERCE -- They come from all over the globe, a virtual United Nations dressed in Speedos.
The handful of foreign athletes on the Indian River Community College swim team may come from different continents with different languages and cultures, but have this in common -- the pool and the desire to go fast in it.
So they leave places like Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela and as far away as South Africa to swim for the small junior-college in the United States with the big reputation for producing quality swimmers and national championships.
Today the Pioneers will begin defense of their National Junior College Athletic Association titles -- if the men win, it will be 29 consecutive championships and 20 for the women -- in what is truly a global effort.
"They have South Americans, Europeans, people from all around the world," said sophomore Camilo Becerra, a Colombian who swam for his country in the 2000 Olympic Games. "It gives foreign people a chance to come here and learn and train."
Which is why the Pioneers' roster lists swimmers from San Paulo, Brazil and Bloemfontein, South Africa, sandwiched between athletes from Vero Beach, Port St. Lucie and Stuart.
And with a small recruiting budget, IRCC relies on the swimmers themselves to replenish the supply of foreign aid.
"There's a lot of word of mouth," first-year coach Scott Kimmelman said. "You get lucky. You pick up a couple of these talented athletes. They call up their friends and say hey, we're swimming pretty well here at Indian River. Then they come up here after that."
Which is what Fernando Jacome did.
Now a freestyler at Florida State University, Jacome swam for Indian River from 2000-01. The Bucaramanga, Colombia, native swam with Becerra and knew current Pioneers freshman Carolina Sierra, and lured his countrymen to the school.
"We don't have as much support as the United States gives their athletes," said Becerra, who is already spreading the word back home about IRCC. "So you want to help (others) to compete."
But there's more to the move than simply swimming. There are different languages, foods, and ways of doing things, which can be harder for some to handle than for others.
"It wasn't much different than South Africa," Luke Wilkens said of his move. "I adapted pretty well, I didn't have any problems. I think for the (swimmers from South American countries) it would be more of a culture change."
Kimmelman, a long-time assistant at IRCC who is in his first-year as head coach, said he will often group one culture together to ease the transition. At the same time, the swimmers get immersed in American culture as part of the learning process.
"I thought it was going to be the same being here, but it's not," Sierra said. "People are totally different. At the beginning it's tough to get used to. I like it. It's just different."
One thing that doesn't change is the competition -- and not just from other teams, either. Kimmelman said he is only allowed three foreign scholarships for the men and three for the women. That frequently leaves some foreign swimmers without scholarship aid and forces them to compete with each other for it.
But the bottom line is winning, a fact that is hard to escape since each national championship team is commemorated on the walls surrounding the IRCC swimming complex.
The foreign swimmers know it, the same as the local ones. The word has been passed down to them, and they have already begun to pass it on to others back home.
"Someone helped me. I will help another," Sierra said. "We keep it going, like a chain."
FOREIGN AID
Six swimmers who hail from outside the United States will try to help IRCC extend their dominance in National Junior College Athletic Association swimming.
Men's Team
- Teylor Arboleda, Venezuela, Fr., butterfly and individual medley
- Camilo Becerra, Colombia, So., freestyle and butterfly
- Alejandro Gomez, Venezuela, Fr., freestyle and backstroke
- Luke Wilkens, South Africa, So., freestyle and butterfly
Women's Team
- Joyce Fuhrman, Brazil, So., freestyle
- Carolina Sierra, Colombia, Fr., butterfly, backstroke and freestyle