The Whitmore Lake community has always prided itself on its close-knit, family-like environment. Whitmore Lake Community Recreation (WLCR) reflects the community with its programming.
WLCR offers many opportunities for ages 0-100 to get active, learn new skills, make new friends and have fun. All of these are available to community members whether they are in the Whitmore Lake school district or the surrounding area. Customer favorites include the Trojan Fit Club fitness program offering a variety of studio-quality fitness classes led by certified instructors. Parents and children are drawn to their recreation-focused youth sports providing a safe and positive environment to build fundamentals where everyone has a chance to play. The beautiful Whitmore Lake High School Community Pool is home to the WaveMaker swim lesson program and the Waves Swim and Dive team.
A year-round competitive recreation swim program for ages 5-18, the Waves have swam a long way since their inaugural season thirteen years ago. At the start of December, they secured their third consecutive first-place team finish at the Southern Michigan Swim League (SMSL) Championship.
Head coach Ethan Drouillard said the win is the product of the way the staff focuses on developing swimmers while offering a safe learning environment that allows for serious swimming with its USA Swimming component.
“We really push stroke development and drill work, being able to do everything not just legally, but correctly,” Drouillard said. “It sets the ceiling so much higher for a lot of kids by being able to do that and also it prevents a lot of injuries.”
At the championship meet, the Waves set 59 best times and 12 team records with Jared Craven breaking two SMSL records.
Craven broke the records in the 100 Butterfly and the 200 Individual Medley (IM). He joined WLCR when he was four,took some time off to participate in WaveMaker swim lessons, then rejoined the team and has been active for almost 11years.
“Our team is a lot like a family. Throughout the years, we've had some people come and go, but it's been pretty consistent and a lot of people have stayed,” he said. “The community is awesome. Everyone's really supportive. The training is great. Our coaches are great.”
Drouillard, a former college swimmer with coaching experience all over southern Michigan, emphasized the Waves' philosophy of developing good, efficient and safe strokes from a very young age.
“We don't really do any sort of training until after they've developed a really good stroke,” he said. “Then we'll start to pick up yardage but even our top group — our top swimmers — they're still doing drill work almost every day.”
With the winter season kicking off after the holiday break, the Waves have set their sights on staying consistent in their excellence while setting new goals as a team.
“Seeing kids hit their goals, whether it's short term, long term or talking to the parents and seeing how proud they are of their kids and how surprised they are that you know, neither parent knows how to swim but yet their kids a state qualifier,” Drouillard said.
Most importantly, Drouillard said everything builds on itself at Whitmore Lake. The success of the Waves contributes to the larger community.
“If the Adult Fitness Program is doing really, really well, then those people that have children are likely gonna put their kids in swim lessons and if the swim lesson program is doing well, then those kids are going to move up and create a successful swim team and if they're really enjoying how that's going then maybe they're gonna sign up for baseball or softball or soccer,” he said.
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If you are interested in joining the Waves Swim Team, you can contact Ethan Drouillard at ethan.drouillard@wlps.net. For information about all the positive programming Whitmore Lake Community Recreation offers, head to wlcr.recdesk.com or scan the QR codes seen throughout this story.
