Andover tornado during summer changes swim dynamics in Wichita
When the Andover tornado destroyed the Andover YMCA in late April, area swim teams were forced to merge in order to continue competing.
Coach Abigail Baden, Corbin Gardner and Nate Jensen stand around the newly merged Neptune swim team while posing for their first complete team photo since the Andover tornado. The team is composed of swimmers from Northwest, Andover, Bishop Carroll, Maize and even home-schooled kids.
October 18, 2022
What was once a lively place filled with fun and laughter is now a quite abandoned danger zone. The Andover YMCA was hit by a tornado on April 29, 2022 between the times of 8:10 and 8:31 p.m. With an EF rating of EF-3 that essentially destroyed the swimming pool within the complex.
When the tornado reached the pool, it actually ended the Andover All-Stars swim team’s year, leaving questions on where the team would even practice or compete.
Soon after the tornado hit the Andover YMCA pool, the Andover All-Stars and the Northwest Neptunes merged teams. This brought the combined team from just over 40 swimmers to over 100.
Andover swimmer Maddi Mace is one of the All-Star swimmers who was affected by this merge but embraced the idea of new teammates.
“The team’s merging was a good thing because it like gave us, like, more kids to hang out with and more people for relays,” said Maddi.
With the teams merging and swimmers having to practice in multiple pools around Wichita, coaches have had a harder time getting to know all of the swimmers on the team.
Her sister, Abbi Mace, joined the team after the merge and has experienced the hardships of a split team first hand.
“We have had practice at Andover Branch, but a lot of time we are swimming at the Northwest YMCA,” said Abbi. “When we swim at the Northwest YMCA, the coaches there are really helpful and they give us a lot of one on one time.”
Coach Abigail Baden, who works with swimmers mostly in Andover, knows that becoming close with all of the team is important even if it’s difficult with the circumstances.
“As a coach, you’re supposed to know the swimmers on your team. Having two pools made it harder in the beginning to know everyone as we coach at different pools. So it took time to remember everyone’s name. It also took more communication since we are at two locations,” said Baden. “We (the coaches) don’t see each other everyday. We’ve had to learn to communicate better and split duties up so everyone has a job and things don’t slip through the cracks.”
