{"id":881,"date":"2013-10-10T01:50:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T01:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=881"},"modified":"2013-10-10T01:50:53","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T01:50:53","slug":"cks-avery-sisters-dont-leave-a-thing-to-chance-in-their-quest-to-be-the-best-swimmers-they-can-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=881","title":{"rendered":"CK’s Avery sisters don’t leave a thing to chance in their quest to be the best swimmers they can be"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Natalie<\/a><\/p>\n

From left, Natalie Pierce, Leah Avery, Sarah Avery<\/p>\n

By Terry Mosher<\/span><\/p>\n

Editor, Sports Paper<\/p>\n

Swimming is a minor sport when it comes to high school. Not that it is bad, it just is, taking a back seat to the more published sports of football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and track and field. And now lacrosse is making inroads<\/p>\n

But what the Avery sisters do for the Central Kitsap High School swim team is anything but minor. On a scale of 1 to 10, they are closing in on 10 in terms of dedication and work ethic for the sport.<\/p>\n

And that, too, is just the way it is.<\/p>\n

Central isn\u2019t having great success under its first-year girl\u2019s coach Mike Thorniley (he will coach the CK boys team for the fourth year in the spring). The Cougars are 2-4 in swim meets.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t count that against Sarah and Leah Avery, a senior and junior respectively. They will do anything in terms of preparation and swimming events if it will help the team. Most swim athletes focus on their best events and in the four years they swim for their high school team they work hard at getting better and better so they can compete on an equal footing at the state level with top athletes from the state\u2019s top swim teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are amazing,\u201d says \u2018Thorniley, of the sisters. \u00a0\u201cThey have such an amazing work ethic. You give them a workout and they do it, no questions asked. They are always looking to how they can improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are just a coaches\u2019 dream. Before every workout they ask, \u2018what do you want me to swim? What can we do to help the team?\u00a0 And they are so diligent about it. I am so impressed with them\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah, team captain for the swim team, and Leah have been swimming almost from the beginning. Their mother \u2013 Susan Avery (father is Scott Avery) \u2013 put her daughters in the pool at about two years old in the Mamma and Me program and started swim lessons at Bangor, and they have progressed to the Bremerton YMCA Swim Team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost absurd to think of all the workouts the Avery\u2019s go through, almost on a daily basis. They practice at the CK School District Pool at Olympic High School from 5-7 in the morning before school starts and then practice during the swim season with the CK team from 4-6 in the same pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the summer it depends on what day it is when we practice,\u201d says Sarah. \u201cOn Wednesdays we do triple practices. We have morning practice, mi-day practice and afternoon practice. We also do double practices Monday through Friday (except Wednesday) and then have Saturday morning practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it gets hard. Like last (summer season) I was doing weight training and I was burned out on practice. I felt that put my coach (Marilyn Grindrod) through a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Older brothers \u2013 Matt and Josh \u2013 also swam in junior high, but weren\u2019t as much into it as their younger sisters and quit splashing in the water.<\/p>\n

As if the above workout schedule isn\u2019t enough, the two sisters also work out at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we finish our homework (3.8 grade-point average for Leah and 3.2 for Sarah) we usually do push-ups, pull-ups, squats and other exercises,\u201d says Leah, who says their homework usually takes an hour or two and then they do their physical exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe usually get home around 6 to 6:30, do home work, do our workout, and then we try to be in bed by 9:30. Sometimes I will push it to 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all work and no play. Weekends are relatively free to hang with friends. And Sarah, who has been doing the 200 free and the 500 free this year for CK, says she will take a year off after graduation and probably go to Australia where relatives on her mother\u2019s side of the family reside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to travel a bit,\u201d says Sarah, \u201cand have a life experience and just enjoy life.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it sounds like Leah, who competes in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke will be working out alone during her senior year.<\/p>\n

The two sisters have been to the state meet. Leah went her sophomore and junior year and has yet to place. Which isn\u2019t surprising. Central Kitsap is a 4A school and some of the better swimmers compete in that classification, so it\u2019s difficult to crack the top eight and get a medal.<\/p>\n

Sarah has been to state three straight years, and also has yet to place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to place in the top eight,\u201d says Leah.<\/p>\n

While Sarah takes a year off, Leah will finish up her degree at CK and head off to college somewhere. She wants to get a degree in business and open her own exercise gym facility and then in the future build a swimming pool in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid I will be spoiled because this is my first year,\u201d says Thorniley, of coaching the girls program and the Averys, \u00a0\u201cand now I can only hope that I will have more of them (in the future).\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From left, Natalie Pierce, Leah Avery, Sarah Avery By Terry Mosher Editor, Sports Paper Swimming is a minor sport when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}