Former Trinity swimmer now rebuilding program

It hasn’t exactly been the Golden Age for Euless Trinity swimming. In recent years the team has lost coaches, swimmers and even its pool. But as dust settles on the demolition of the natatorium, new coach Richard Campanaro hopes construction of the Golden Age of Trinity swimming is just beginning.

Campanaro doesn’t have an extensive résumé when it comes to coaching high school swim teams. In fact, he doesn’t have one at all. The sum of his experience dates back about a month, to when he was hired at Trinity. But what he does have — and what’s hard to convey on a résumé — is a passion for this swim team that’s contagious.

Campanaro was a Trojans swimmer back around the turn of the century. His sisters were swimmers at Trinity, and the swim board holding school records that adorns the athletic building still features their names. It was this connection, and a desire to give back, that led Campanaro back here.

“I was very impressed in the interview. We were thrilled that he comes from a Trinity family. He knows all about our school, tradition and diversity,” athletic coordinator Sue Cannon said. “You can tell he loves what he does and that he loves swimming. He just started from the get-go. As soon as he was hired, he started meeting with players and parents and getting underway with what he needed to do to have a successful program. And I think he will be very successful.”

After winning over the administration, it was time to see if the team members were ready to dive in.

Co-captains Kenzie Crews and Riley Buhrow, both seniors, have seen four different coaches in their time with the team.

“New leadership is always kind of exciting, but it’s also nerve-wracking because I didn’t know what kind of coach we were going to have,” Crews said. “But it also brings more opportunities for change and new things. We were bummed that we would have to get another new coach, but we were excited by the new possibilities that could arise.”

“I was really frustrated because myself and the fellow seniors have put a lot of work in to make this team stable,” Buhrow added. “We lost our pool, we lost our main coach that had been here for over a decade or so and we lost a bunch of swimmers when we lost our pool. We were really just trying to get the team stable, so losing the coach felt like a blow at the time. But this new coach has been a blessing. Hopefully, he sticks with it.”

Understandably tentative initially, both Crews and Buhrow say Campanaro’s arrival has already rejuvenated the program despite still being weeks from their first meet.

“He seemed really enthusiastic and had a lot of good ideas,” Buhrow said. “I was happy to see the enthusiasm.”

“Everybody has to start somewhere and there’s always a first for someone, so I wasn’t going to make any judgments about him before I saw him coach us,” Crews said. “I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, and he’s completely lived up to everything I thought he would.”

The first thing Campanaro wanted to do was start building a culture. Part of that is having pride. The coach was a self-described “troubled youth” when in school.

“I was one of those kids that nobody knew if I was going to make it,” he explained, expressing gratitude for the opportunity he was given by some of the very people he butted heads with as a student.

“To be able to come back and for them to put their faith in me to come back and lead this team, it a great privilege and honor and I take a lot of pride in that, so I’m investing a lot of myself into it to make sure they know they matter. It’s sort of my personal goal to pay it forward for the people who helped me become the man I’ve become and to overcome my challenges.”

What may appear to be little things have made a big difference with the team. Campanaro found the old swim program banners and awards stuffed away in a storage closet. He spent several hours putting them up in the locker room.

“I just wanted the kids to know that history and that culture of district championships.”

He instituted a team chant — common for swim teams but missing at Trinity in recent years.

He also implemented longer and harder practices. The team starts earlier and has started weight training after school. The commitment he commands is greater than it has been. While one might think that would send some swimmers backstroking away, the opposite has been true. More have actually wanted to try out.

“All the things I’ve instituted are things they’ve wanted,” he said. “I’m just glad I get to be the one to push them to compete and to push them to the next level. … The kids love it. They’re in there before I am. They’re excited.”

His co-captains confirm.

“The team is getting there earlier; they’re more enthusiastic at practice. We’re there before so we can get our stretching done so we can get into the water sooner,” Buhrow said. “The coach has made a huge difference. He’s been phenomenal.”

“Since I’m a senior and this is my last year, I wanted to go out with a boom,” Crews said. “Support like this hasn’t really been there for us. He takes pride in us and that’s really cool.”

Whether it translates to results in the pool, time will tell. The team’s first meet isn’t until Sept. 22 at Lewisville Hebron. But thus far, the season has already been a huge success.

“I know I [have more pride in the team] and I hope everyone else does,” Crews said. “Knowing that we have a coach that will support me and he’s proud of me and wants me to do my best, that makes me want to stand tall when I walk around campus just knowing that I’m on the swim team and that I have a coach that cares.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2016 at 1:22 PM with the headline "Former Trinity swimmer now rebuilding program."