My strength, relatively speaking, in the triathlon is the swim. I was taking lessons at Ridgewood YMCA in Parma, Ohio, when Mr. Colombo, one of the swim instructors at the Ridgewood YMCA suggested to my parents that I should try out for the swim team.

So at the age of 7 or 8, I don’t recall for sure, I started swimming with the team. I swam competitively until around age 12. I really can not seem to remember why I stopped.

In addition, during the summer, I swam with the local outdoor municipal swim team. Later when I was in Junior High and during my first year of High School, I worked as a lifeguard and a swim instructor during the summer.

In the summer of 2006, I joined the Masters Swim Club for the club my daughter swims with, SEMS (South East Metro Sharks), one of a dozen age group swim clubs in the Twin Cities Area. Alexandra, my daughter, now 11, has been swimming with the club since the winter of 2005. Her start into swimming is much the same as mine. Charlene was approached by one of the parents (who happened to be the wife of one of SEMS swim coaches) while Alexandra was taking lessons at the Woodbury YMCA and suggested she try out for the club.

I truly love the sport and have swam in several Master meets at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center (a phenomenal swimming facility). I’m also a certified Stroke & Turn official and officiate at most of Alexandra’s events.