Tri-town swimmers dive head first into new Riptides season

WAREHAM — Tri-town swimmers are gearing up for a new season in the pool with the Gleason Family YMCA Riptides. 

The Riptides are based out of the Gleason Family YMCA in Wareham and the team features several swimmers from the Tri-town. The team gets anyone aged 6 to 21-years-old in the pool to improve their swimming and compete in events across the state. The 2025 season got underway about a month ago and will run until March.

Last year, Charlie and Billy Hall of Mattapoisett and Rochester’s Noella Michaud earned a spot in the national meet by placing inside the top 20 of their event at the Baystate Games, a statewide, olympic style competition where kids can compete in a variety of events.

So far this year the team has only had one meet and Ethan O’Brian, 9, of Rochester said his favorite part about it was placing second.

“I liked doing the breast stroke,” Ethan said.

Eight-year-old Molly Beson of Rochester said she has been liking being a part of the team and her favorite part is swimming the butterfly.

“I’m most excited to swim the butterfly,” Molly said.

Through the first month of practice, one of the Riptides Head Coaches Brooke Michaud said getting technique down has been the priority.

“We have kids going from barely being able to swim to actually being able to follow instruction and practice properly,” she said.

The team has another meet Saturday, Oct. 11 and Sunday, Oct. 12 but instead of working on technique, the kids are working on getting faster.

“We have a good group going so I think we’ll see some good times and see some times drop," Michaud said.

But the competitions aren’t about winning or losing, they’re about having fun and showing the kids what they are able to accomplish.

“We want to make sure that they’re progressing and dropping times and that they’re understanding their own progress,” she said.