Don’t let 4-year-old Drea Prescott’s size fool you. The pintsize Santa Marian is one powerhouse of a swimmer, according to Santa Maria Valley YMCA’s aquatics and sports program director Angeli Guerrero.
When she nominated Prescott for the Sun’s Athlete of the Week, Guerrero said Prescott is a bit of a paddling phenomenon in the Y’s swimming program.
The YMCA offers lessons to aspiring swimmers grouped by age, including Skippers, Polywogs, Guppies, Minnows, and Fish. Based on her age, Prescott should be a Skipper (3 to 5 years old), but she’s glided ahead to Guppy (ages 6 and over). And she’s only been swimming for about six months.
“She’s the youngest in her class,” Guerrero said, adding that it’s not often the Y sees such an accomplished 4-year-old swimmer.
As a Guppy, Prescott is expected to be able to tread water, float, and side paddle. She also has to know the backstroke and freestyle.
Prescott’s mom, Andrea, said chlorine seems to run in their family’s blood. Her three older children—ages 15, 14, and 11—all swim, so it just seemed natural for her youngest to follow them into the pool.
“She’s got one of those little personalities where you do it until you learn it,” Andrea said. “Just like hula hooping.”
Prescott swims three days a week for 45 minutes, but her mom said, “She would stay longer if she could. She’s a determined little thing.”
When asked what she likes most about her swimming lessons, Prescot said, “Diving for rings … I like to jump off the diving board, too.”
Mom Andrea added that with summer right around the corner, she expects to see her daughter in the pool more and more often.
“I put her in lessons but then I pulled her out for a little bit, which was silly of me because she’d be a swimming fool by now,” she said.
But to most people at the Y, Prescott is already just that.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 4, 2009.
