SILVA AND GOLD

Camille Albrecht, who teaches synchronized swimming at the New Tampa YMCA, embraces her former student Juliana Silva.

When Juliana Silva’s family first moved to New Tampa, she didn’t speak a word of English; all she understood was her love of the water. 

“I’ve been in a pool since I was four,” says Juliana, now 17 and a former student at Benito Middle School and both Wharton and Wiregrass Ranch high schools.

Currently, Juliana lives in Moraga, CA, just outside of San Francisco, where she trains full-time with the U.S. Junior National Synchronized Swim Team.

After nine years on the Tampa YMCA Stingrays (TYS) competitive “synchro” team at the New Tampa facility, Juliana has her sights set on the ultimate prize: a 2024 Olympic gold medal.

“Juliana came to the Stingrays as an eager-to-learn, naturally athletic eight-year-old,” says TYS Head Coach Camille Albrecht, 30, who has sent several students to the national team. 

Since Juliana didn’t understand English at the time, Albrecht would use hand motions to demonstrate the correct techniques. 

“She picked up all the synchro words and English very quickly,” said Albrecht, who described Juliana as a “joy to coach, always cheering everyone else on.” 

Although Juliana was born in Indianapolis, IN, her family (mother Susana Barrios, father Rafael Silva and brother Leo Silva) moved to Venezuela and Colombia shortly after, returning to the U.S. in 2011. 

“I’d always heard that Tampa was a great city,” says Susana. “Before we moved here, I visited friends who lived right across the street from Hunter’s Green, and I totally fell in love with the area.” 

Athleticism comes naturally to Juliana. Her brother, now 19, started soccer at five, and their father was a former amateur champion and professional tennis player.

All Juliana wanted to do at first was stay home, so her mother decided to get her out of the house by signing Juliana up for swim classes at the Y. 

“She looked at me on the way to that first class and said, ‘Okay Mom, I’m going to try this once, but if I don’t like it, I’m not going to do it,’” Susana says. 

A month later, Juliana  began training with Albrecht, kickstarting her dreams of Olympic gold. 

Building A Track Record Of Excellence

At age 14, Silva placed sixth in her very first Regional “zone” meet, qualifying her for the National meet. It took three attempts to make the junior national team, which she did by placing 16th in the nation. 

“Before that, I was hard on myself,” Juliana says. “I told myself I’d never make it, that this was just for fun. But making it to Nationals was an eye-opener.” 

Susana says she began saving money for the pricey gear required for her daughter’s national competitions, including single swimsuits that could cost $200 apiece. She served her daughter meals and did her laundry while Juliana powered through a grueling training schedule, before and after school and on weekends. 

“My mom supports me to the max,” Juliana says. “She’s the one who’s always pushed me to do this — the reason I joined synchro in the first place is because she was tired of me being in bed, watching Netflix and getting fat!” 

In California, Juliana trains from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. every day except Sunday and spends four hours each evening online for academic classes. 

“It’s like a robot routine,” admits Juliana, who lives with two other teammates and a host family in California. “You wake up, eat breakfast, train, shower, do homework, eat dinner and repeat. If I lay in bed in the morning and think about it too much, I won’t get up.” 

Juliana also says that if she hadn’t struggled to qualify for Nationals at first, she would never have made it this far. 

“My numbers, and knowing I could do better, motivated me,” she says. “Just wanting this won’t get you anywhere. You have to put in the action.” 

Juliana’s team will begin its Olympic training after the Junior World Championships in August, as the team members aim for Paris 2024. 

Susana, who graduated law school at 22, encouraged her daughter to pursue her Olympic dreams and return to college later, reasoning that Juliana will still be plenty young when she “retires” from competitive swimming. 

“I don’t want synchro to be my whole life, because when I retire, I want a career to back me up so I have somewhere to go,” says Juliana, a high school junior who’s interested in forensic science. 

She says she misses everything about Tampa, especially her family and friends, her own bed, and the “heat and humid air,” which she says is easier on her eczema, a skin condition that she says is aggravated by swimming in chlorinated water. 

“My kids are truly Floridians, and we all think of Tampa as home,” Susana says. “Everyone here was so supportive and friendly when we moved in; my kids were invited to sleepovers a week later.” 

Susana says that she will always be grateful for the New Tampa community and particularly the New Tampa YMCA, which twice assisted Juliana via the Y’s Open Doors sliding scale program, without which lessons would have been unaffordable for the family. 

When a spot on the national team opened up, Juliana’s family had one week to decide if she would take it. 

“I told her it was her decision, and she told me, ‘Mom, I’m ready, I’m going,’” says Susana. “When I realized she’d be in a big city without me, I struggled, and of course, I miss her. We’re very close, she’s my baby. But I’m happy.” 

Truly One Of Our Own!

Juliana says she is very excited about the possibility of one day representing New Tampa in the Olympics. 

“When I got here it was unreal; it took me a while to realize that I’m actually here, that I made it, that this is my spot,” she says. “It feels amazing to know that you have a lot of people supporting you and even looking up to you.” 

Susana says she remembers watching, along with Juliana and her grandmother, Michael Phelps’ family celebrate his victory in the 2016 Olympic Games. 

“Juliana turned to her grandmother and asked her if she was ready, and my mother asked, ‘Ready for what?’ And Juliana said, ‘That’s gonna be you, I’m gonna take you to the Olympics!’” 

“If my daughter says she’s going to the Olympics,” Susana continued, “she will be there.” 

For more information about the Tampa YMCA Stingrays, visit TampaYMCA.org or call Camille Albrecht at (813) 785-7092. 

Young YMCA Lifeguards Earn Kudos For Saving Teghan

Teghan Theile (center) with the New Tampa YMCA lifeguards who rescued her (l.-r.): Alfred Briceno, Emma Cutkomp, Aviana Jividen and TJ Hernandez.

On a sunny day just before school let out for the summer, the New Tampa Family YMCA pool was busy. Four teenage lifeguards were on duty as people enjoyed the pool and young synchronized swimmers were training for the upcoming Junior Olympics.

Teghan Theile, a 10-year-old who has been on the synchronized swimming team at the New Tampa YMCA for three years, was participating in the practice, doing what she does most afternoons, for several hours at a time.

As Teghan and her teammates were swimming laps, something about the way her legs were moving caught lifeguard Aviana Jividen’s attention. It didn’t look quite right. As Aviana watched, Teghan blacked out and sank to the bottom of the pool.

Aviana jumped into action, and TJ Hernandez, another of the lifeguards on duty that day, helped pull Teghan out of the water.

“We do practices every month,” recalls Aviana, “so when you actually see it happen, your adrenaline kicks in and you think of all the training that you went through.”

Assisted by lifeguards Emma Cutkomp and Alfred Briceno, Aviana and TJ began lifesaving procedures as 9-1-1 was called.

“They stayed calm, worked together and did what was needed to save Teghan’s life,” says aquatics experience director Lacey Boldman. “All the monthly drills and scenario practice was put into action and they remembered all the steps necessary to make the rescue quickly and efficiently. A life was saved because of their vigilance and quick action.”

Teghan’s mom, Brenna Fender, was in the shower when she got a call that something scary had happened to her daughter. She immediately headed to the pool.

“When I arrived, Teghan wasn’t moving, but they said she was breathing,” says Brenna. “Running out to the pool and finding it silent, with onlookers frozen against the fence while a small group huddled together over a figure that I knew was my daughter, was an experience I’ll never forget.”

Over the next couple of days, Brenna pieced together what had happened.

“Teghan did several laps in a row with very few breaths,” Brenna explains. “She then attempted a 50-meter zero under, trying to swim the distance without taking a breath.”

“I thought I could make it because the wall was just a few yards away,” Teghan remembers. “The next thing I remember, I was out of the pool, lying on a towel, and I was so confused.”

Tampa Y aquatics experience executive Amanda Walker explains that what happened to Teghan is called a shallow water blackout.

“With shallow water blackouts, you don’t even realize sometimes that you need to take a breath,” explains Amanda. “Your brain genuinely plays tricks on you and you pass out.”

Thanks to the quick action of the four lifeguards, Teghan was conscious by the time paramedics arrived, and was transported to the hospital, where she stayed in the pediatric ICU for a couple of days, while doctors ran tests to ensure that there was no underlying medical cause for her blackout.

When Brenna considers that the four people who saved her daughter’s life were all just teenagers, “it was stunning to think about,” she says. “They were so attentive. It was a pool full of people, so who thinks they need to be watching the experienced swimmers? The lifeguards were so prepared and obviously took their training seriously. I absolutely credit the YMCA for that — selecting the right people for the job and training them so well.”

Brenna says that on the way to the hospital, Teghan was already asking if she had to miss school the next day. She was given the all-clear to return to her fourth grade class at Lake Magdalene Elementary just in time for the last day of school later that week.

Within just a couple of weeks, Teghan was back in the pool again.

In early July, just barely a month later, Teghan and her team travelled to California to compete in the Junior Olympics.

Brenna says there was never a doubt she would get right back in and swim again.

“She’s worked too hard,” Brenna says, “I couldn’t keep her from competing at the Junior Olympics.”

Brenna says Teghan has always loved to be in the water. “She was the kid who thought she could swim before she was two years old,” she says. “I’d tell her to jump to me and she’d jump into the water next to me.”

Based on research she’s since done, Brenna understands that it’s unlikely to happen again, as long as Teghan makes different decisions. That doesn’t make the lingering anxiety go away, though, as her daughter continues swimming. “It’s been over a month now, so it’s getting easier,” Brenna explains, “but I’ve had a knot in my stomach that’s been hard to get rid of.”

Brenna is incredibly grateful to the YMCA lifeguards. To provide just a glimpse of the appreciation she and Teghan have for them, they hosted a thank-you pizza party with homemade brownies and goodies, where Teghan had a chance to talk with the lifeguards who saved her life. “It was really good for Teghan, especially,” Brenna says, “because she wanted to see them all.”

Now that Junior Olympics is over, Teghan is getting a brief break from her synchronized swimming practices. Her mom says she loves reading Harry Potter and making her own music videos, and is excited about joining her school’s safety patrol as a fifth grader in the fall.

But, when the swim season starts again, Teghan will be right back in that place she loves the most, practicing synchronized swimming in the New Tampa YMCA pool again.

Luckily for all of us, the New Tampa Y lifeguards will be there, too.

Janelle Wells New Tampa YMCA Volunteer of the Year

The New Tampa Family YMCA on Compton Dr., just south of Tampa Palms Blvd., offers plenty of ways to not only get a good cardio physical workout but also to grow the heart through volunteering.

Janelle Wells will attest to that. Wells was recognized February 16 as the New Tampa Family YMCA’s “Volunteer of the Year” during the Tampa Metropolitan YMCA’s annual Community Impact Dinner that highlights the work of numerous volunteers from all 15 Tampa-area YMCAs.

“Not many people know that the YMCA is a nonprofit, four-star charity (as rated by Charity Navigator), focusing on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility,” says Wells, who has been volunteering at the New Tampa YMCA for three years. “They are committed to uniting all walks of life to create positive social change.”

There’s certainly plenty of choices in New Tampa for people who want to exercise, ranging from 24-hour corporate chain fitness centers to private trainers who deliver the tough love of a boot camp drill sergeant. Wells says the YMCA offers something none of those other options can offer:

“Even with the trend of privatized youth sports and boutique for-profit health fitness clubs, the Y has stayed true to its mission of serving the community, and that speaks volumes to me,” says Wells.

Wells serves on the New Tampa Family YMCA’s advisory board and is its current chair. She coaches teams and assists with community events such as the Fall Festival and Healthy Kids Day. Wells also helps with YMCA programs in communities outside of New Tampa as a member of the Tampa Metro YMCA Oversight Committee.

Volunteering at the YMCA also gives Wells — who has a Ph.D. degree in Health and Human performance from the University of Florida in Gainesville — a chance to combine her love of sports and healthy living with her professional expertise. She currently also teaches in the Sport & Entertainment Management program at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business.

“I developed service-learning projects for my Sport & Entertainment Management M.B.A. and M.S. students, where each individual is encouraged and expected to volunteer 20 hours,” says Wells.

Some of the YMCA’s activities Wells and her students have been involved with are drowning prevention and the Y’s Teen Achievers and Teen Leadership development programs, as well as its Veggie Van, that sells low-price vegetables in neighborhoods lacking a nearby supermarket.

The contributions of time and energy that Wells and other volunteers make are appreciated, says Tampa Metro YMCA communications director Lalita Llerena.

“The Tampa Y is committed to strengthening the community, but we couldn’t do this without the help, support and guidance of our volunteers,” she says.

Wells cites, “compassion, courage, commitment, and service,” as principles guiding her volunteer efforts and daily living. Describing herself as “a working mother of three,” Wells says volunteering and serving others is its own reward and considers the opportunities to do so with the YMCA as another way the organization benefits her family.

“The Y has shaped my life through (its) spirit of service and connection,” says Wells. “It’s a haven that allows me the opportunity to live healthy, engage with my family and serve the community.”

Since opening in 2001, The New Tampa Family YMCA has become a go-to place in New Tampa for residents wanting to engage in not only fitness routines, but in other activities as well. Members can swim in the City of Tampa’s only 50-meter full-Olympic-size pool, get a workout in the indoor wellness facility that’s equipped with everything from weight machines to treadmills, or find a group activity such as aerobics, basketball and so much more.

There’s even a rock wall available for indoor mountaineering. Youth sports such as basketball and a variety of camps are available for children, as well as classes providing instruction in swimming, martial arts and more.

For more info about recreational activities and volunteer opportunities at the New Tampa Family YMCA, located at 16221 Compton Dr. in Tampa Palms, visit online at TampaYMCA.org or call 866-9622.