St. Anselm Angels make a splash, place second in Brooklyn and Queens

The St. Anselm Angels celebrated a winning season, coming in second competing against teams from all over Brooklyn and Queens.

The school has two teams, a girls’ team and a boys’ team, with over 200 swimmers in total with ages ranging from six to 14 in first grade through ninth grade.

Ted Ghorra coaches the teams along with January Mark. Brian Doherty and Nancy Ngai serve as assistant coaches.

“We swim as part of the CYO league’s competitive program,” Ghorra told this paper.

“Our boys finished at the top of the Brooklyn division teams and qualified and competed in the Division A championships,” continued Ghorra, who has been coaching for nine seasons. “Our girls finished their winning season placing second in the championship overall. We currently have 108 girls and 94 boys on the teams.”

The girls’ awards ceremony took place on April 11 at the Fort Hamilton High School pool. The team celebrated coming in second place overall at Nassau Aquatic Center in Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. The winning team was the FLUKES, a combined team from Holy Family, Flushing and St. Luke’s, Whitestone. All 14 graduating teammates from St. Anselm received an award for individual recognition.

“Two of my three daughters have been through this program,” said Doherty, who has been coaching for 10 seasons. “My older one graduated from this program last year. The great thing about the CYO program is that it’s intramural — you’re swimming against other parishes — but the format of the swim program allows you to have a team that has 15 swimmers or a team that has 150 and they just work it into different heats. Everybody gets a chance to swim so our program is gigantic.”

Ghorra’s three daughters all compete on the girls’ swim team and his son participates on the boys’ team.

“This swim program is more than just about swimming,” said Ghorra. “It’s about life, it’s about discipline, it’s about self-respect and respecting your teammates and your opponents every single week. Win, lose or draw, we always cheer the other team which is nice to see. It’s also about hard work and getting results like any other sport. It’s really a lesson in life and the time we give to the kids comes back to us tenfold. That’s our ultimate reward.”