It's organized chaos on a recent Thursday morning as more than 50 members of the Marana Marlins swim team make their way up and down the lanes at the pool in Ora Mae Harn Park.
The kids, ages 6-18, freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, one behind the other as head coach Collin Quenelle shouts words of encouragement from the pool's edge.
Christina Flood, 31, watches the practice from the shade of a nearby tree.
Three of Christina's children, Kayla Flood, 5, Hailey Flood, 9, and Connor Flood, 11, are members of the team.
So is Flood's 13-year-old brother, Anthony Mosher-Mendoza.
Christina never swam with the Marlins in her youth, but her husband, Ben Flood, coached the team when he was a lifeguard with the town more than a decade ago.
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Flood said her kids live for swimming.
"The problem isn't getting them into the pool," she said. "It's getting them out."
Like many families in Marana, the Flood family has turned swimming with the Marlins into an informal family tradition.
It's one of the reasons that Marlins coordinator Debbie Sullivan has tried to keep the team going despite some very difficult times.
For many years, the Marlins - a team that competes in the Pima County Swim Team program - was run by the town of Marana.
Parks and recreation collected the fees - $20 per kid. That went toward the swim meets. In addition, the town paid for coaches and covered any extraneous costs that came up.
"It really was their team," Sullivan said.
When the economic downturn hit, the town decided to cut its ties, leaving the Marlins without financial support two weeks before the season's start.
"There was no notice, nothing," Sullivan said.
Sullivan reluctantly took the reigns, working with coaches who were willing to lead for next-to-nothing to keep things going.
She handled the money and the fundraising, building an army of volunteer moms willing to drive members to swim meets as far away as Ajo and sell snow cones, T-shirts and other concessions during meets.
Sullivan ran the team under the assumption that the town would eventually take it back.
But she learned this year that that wasn't going to happen.
"Like any other team, we support them wholeheartedly," councilman Jon Post said about the Marlins at a regular council meeting on June 19. "As they go through their transition period, the town will be there to help them out and support them.
"But we are not prepared to operate that team for them. We could never operate that team as well as they are doing."
The town also approached the team this year asking for $2 per lane per hour for the use of the pool, which, over the course of six weeks comes to more than $800 in added expenses.
Sullivan said the town and the team are working out an agreement that will provide some relief for the group financially, perhaps even the elimination of the lane fees for the season.
In the meantime, Sullivan has been working to set the team up as a nonprofit.
The status will give the Marlins more stability and Sullivan a break.
All of the jobs that she has will be handled by six different committees made up of volunteers.
Sullivan will stay on as a liaison, which works for her.
"Coordinating the team has gotten easier, but it is extremely time consuming," she said.
The outlook is positive for everyone involved, including Quenelle, who has helped coach the team since before its troubles began.
Quenelle, 21, used to swim on the Marlins.
He loves helping, even if it means moonlighting as a delivery driver for Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches to make ends meet.
"It is important to all these kids," he said. "I look at them and see how happy they are."
Christina Flood said swimming has been the best way for her kids to get exercise during the summer months.
She's hopeful that the Marlins will continue for future generations.
"It is an awesome team," she said. "The coaches are great. The kids love them. It is just a really, really good program."
Contact reporter Gerald M. Gay at ggay@azstarnet.com or 807-8430
