Julianna deHaas cannot remember not knowing how to swim, and it’s no wonder. Her mom put her in Magens Bay when she was six months old.
"She was one of the ‘beach babies’," says Gail deHaas. "We had a bunch of young mothers who would meet at the Magens in the mornings with our offspring."
And since that time, the blond, tanned 13-year old has never been far from the water – sea, ocean or pool. DeHaas was one of the very first members of the St. Thomas Swimming Association Stingray swimming team, under the tutelage of long-time instructor Kathy Huttel at Magens at the tender age of two.
Her dedication has reaped rewards for herself and her community; she will represent St. Thomas at the Carifta Swimming Championships, an annual, age-group aquatics meet. held this year in Kingston, Jamaica from April 2 – 7. More than 19 countries will attend the meet with swimmers from ages 11 to 18 competing.
This marks the first time since 1992 St. Thomas has been represented in the prestigious match. She is the lone member of the Stingrays Swim Team. The Virgin Islands will also be represented by 10 members of the St. Croix Dolphins Swim Team.
DeHaas takes some time to chat this week at St. Thomas Swimming Association Nazareth pool before her daily training session. Her excitement is barely contained, as she discusses her immediate future and she talks about how she got there.
She almost didn’t. First, she competed in a long course meet in Ponce, Puerto Rico, against some of that island’s top swimmers, the last major meet before the Carifta Championship.
"I’d had a wake-boarding accident in January," she says. "I’d hurt a bone in my ankle and I was in a cast until, actually, 48 hours before the Ponce meet. I hadn’t been able to practice, so my legs were weak."
And that wasn’t all. It took Julianna and her mother 11 hours to get there from St. Thomas, and she has to swim in the 13/14 age group for the first time. And she didn’t qualify Still smarting a bit from the experience, she says, "I missed in the 50 meter breaststroke by 2/10ths of a second, 2/10ths!"
However, that’s now ancient history. She grins like the teenager she is when talking about the last-chance St. Croix meet last month, where, in a quirk of sorts, she qualified in the same event by exactly 2/10th of a second. "Really!" she exclaims.
In dedicating so much time to her passion for the water, deHaas admits she has had to give up some other interests. An Antilles School eight-grader, she says, "I really wanted to be on the junior varsity soccer team, but I couldn’t do both. Then," she thinks about it, "I’ve never been in a school play. My mother’s an actress, so I want to do that, too."
She allows there’s several more years of high school to do that. And, through all her excitement, she maintains a 4.1 grade average.
DeHaas is a thoughtful young woman. Very poised, very approachable. She’s tall, lanky, tanned, graceful. Now, how about heroes? Michael Phelps? "No," deHaas says. "I don’t really have a favorite. I admire anybody who sets goals and accomplishes them."
How would she best describe herself?
"Probably,"she says, "kind."
She talks about her family, her mom, her dad, architect Michael deHaas, her brother Harry, 10, who may or may not follow in her aquatic pursuits. And there’s the rest of the family, ranging from a grown Rottweiler, Belle, and a one-eyed cat, Winkie, to a hamster deHaas named "Jamaking Me Crazy," after she learned she was going to Jamaica.
DeHaas has been trained with the Stingrays through four different coaches in four years. Joey Hamilton, STSA executive director, is her current coach and he is happy to talk about his pupil.
"I think Julianna is the key to improving the team. She is one of the oldest and she has taken on a leadership role in the last few months, leading at practices and helping the younger swimmers," Hamilton says. "She has an admirable work ethic."
"She has inspired so many other kids to become more committed. With her appearance in the Carifta," Hamilton says, "I think we’ll see more Stingrays there in the future."
Sending her off to the meet, he offered some avuncular advice.
"I told her to represent your country is the dream of lots of people in sports, but very few get the chance to actually do that. I told her to focus on the entire experience, meeting people from other countries, making new friends, and when she leaves she can make new goals for coming back next year."
Gail deHaas says Julianna is in Kingston now, accompanied by her father, awaiting her first competition on Monday.
"She says she is happy but homesick," deHaas says.
She is, after all, still a 13-year-old.
Related link:
http://sttswimming.org/cmsms/
