Blackfins set to dissolve

Families of the Lakewood Ranch YMCA Blackfins swim team thought they were going to be meeting their new head coach during an informational meeting April 12. 

Instead, they were told that the branch’s competitive swim team would be dismantling April 22. The Blackfins have more than 80 members, who train 10 to 18 hours a week at the pool. 

“They are taking our children’s dreams, hard work in the pool, and collegiate career and scholarship goals and doing away with them in a day,” said Melissa Caro, whose two children swim for the Blackfins. 

The Manatee YMCA has plans in place to begin offering a new YMCA swim team program in Parrish and a new direction for its team at the Lakewood Ranch Branch. 

The Lakewood Ranch Blackfins and Parrish YMCA will join the Bradenton Barracudas, the Manatee YMCA’s Bradenton Branch swim team, as members of the Suncoast Swim League. The Blackfins had been a part of USA Swimming. 

“We believe that it’s in the best interest of the Y to transition away from operating a USA Swimming sanctioned program and offer a scaled down YMCA Swim Team that is less competitive and more attractive to Y Members and their kids,” Sean Allison, CEO of the Manatee YMCA, said in a press release. “The summer swim team at our Bradenton Branch has been very successful, and that model will work well for Parrish and Lakewood Ranch.  The swim teams at all three branches will allow the most children possible to have a fun, challenging and safe swim team experience.” 

The Lakewood Ranch YMCA is hosting a follow-up meeting with Allison at 6:30 p.m. April 14, in the branch’s conference center. 

As part of the Suncoast Swim League, the team will compete against other local swim teams every Saturday from May through July with the option of swimming in the preseason and postseasons as well. 

Practices will focus on learning and improving the four competitive strokes, starts, turns and building endurance. 

The Blackfins, formerly the Wave Runners, started as a recreational swim team, but as the swimmers progressed, families opted for a more competitive route. 

“All parties agreed that it was in the best interest of everyone, swimmers that wanted more of a challenge and swimmers that raced against them and lost and felt defeated, to start the Lakewood Ranch WaveRunners as a USA Swimming league,” Susie Sayre-Ellis said. “So now, years later, they want to go back to a program that didn’t do well before? The swim team parents are confused, and we really would just like the truth.” 

The announcement comes roughly three weeks after coach Jeff Logsdon resigned from his position to go back to back to school. Logsdon is a Lieutenant with the Treasure Island Fire Department. 

According to the release, those Blackfins who wish to continue to compete in USA Swimming can join the Lakewood Ranch Lightning, the Sarasota Tsunami or the Sarasota Sharks. 

The Lakewood Ranch YMCA had been in talks with the Sarasota YMCA about having the Blackfins become a part of the Sharks umbrella, but were unable to come to an agreement financially. 

“We tried and tried hard,” director of competitive aquatics and Sarasota Sharks head coach Brent Arckey said. “I would still be very interested in finding a way to get in Lakewood Ranch. I feel bad for the kids. At the end of the day, I just really want kids in the sport of swimming because that makes us all better.” 

**This is a developing story. We will continue to update it as more information becomes available.**