Marco Y Swimmers to Compete at State for Lely

Two longtime swimmers at the Marco YMCA, Caelan Burt and Emma Nash, are heading to the state championships in Stuart this weekend. The two Lely High School swimmers have been training their entire swimming careers with the Y’s swim coach Kamal Farhat, who’s been with the facility for 21 years.

The girls went to state last year as part of Lely’s record setting 200 freestyle relay team. While they’re not sure if their relay team will qualify this season, they are both going to state in individual events.

“I’m really excited this year,” Burt said. "As a team we’ve been working so hard. I feel like this year is going to be a lot more exciting. We have two new girls on the relay team this year. Last year we broke the record for the 200 freestyle relay for our school. It’s really exciting to come back."  

Burt will be competing in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. She finished first in the region in the 100 and second in the 50.

Nash has qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. She finished 14 and 11 respectively in regionals.

"We both got personal records in regionals,” Burt said. 

Both swimmers are looking forward to the state championships.

"It’s really fun,” Burt said. "The atmosphere is super-exciting. They have a really good announcer who just makes it really fun for all the kids. It’s just a really good environment."

"It’s just a really fun atmosphere,” Nash said.

Burt’s sister Maddie was an outstanding swimmer locally and now swims for the University of Arizona.

"My sister is older and she started when she was six,” Burt said of her sister, who is three-and-a-half years older. "I was kind of born into it. I’ve been with Coach Kamal my whole life.”

Burt is not only a top swimmer, but a top student as well. She currently holds a 4.6 GPA. But there was a time when she wasn’t as sure about swimming.

"My parents are really into it,” Burt said. "For a little while I wasn’t. But now I really like it. I got back into it and I really enjoy it. It’s really mental. Obviously, we can push our bodies, but if our minds aren’t in the right place, we can’t do it. I’m a pretty good student. I like to do good in and out of the classroom.

Burt is a junior and Nash is a sophomore at Lely. Nash says she looks up to Burt.

"I’ve been swimming with Caelan since I was in first grade,” Nash said. "She’s a really big role model to me inside and out of the pool. It’s super fun to swim with her and to be on the team with her."

Both swimmers respect Farhat.

"Throughout my time swimming he’s been super hard on us,” Burt said in the most positive way. “Everything he says is true, and he just wants us to do our best. Even though he’s hard on us sometimes, and he pushes us past what we can do, he’s always looking out for our best interests."

"He’s so much more than just a coach,” Nash said. "He teaches us so many life lessons. He’s always been there for us when we needed more than just a coach."

Burt said Farhat teaches them not to give up.

"Don’t quit on something before you try it,” Burt said. "He applies it to swim every day, but also to regular life. He likes to make analogies."

"There’s a new one every day,” Nash said of Farhat’s analogies. "He’s never given up on us or thought that we couldn’t do something, even when we had thought to ourselves that it wasn’t possible or it was too hard." 

"He always believes in us,” Burt said.

"He’s our number one supporter,” Nash said.

Farhat has been teaching swimming at the Y for 21 years. He’s consistently produced top swimmers.

“They’re both hard workers and they listen,” Farhat said. "Swimming is about following the directions of the coach. If you do, you succeed, because they’re going to train you mechanically and put you in the position where you can succeed to the potential you want to succeed to. That’s how these two are. They’re hard workers. Sometimes they’ll work on the weekends in the pool. For the last two weeks they’ve been here swimming every single day. They’ve paid their dues and they deserve to go where they’re going."

Farhat laughs when told the swimmers said he’s hard on them.

"I’m never hard on them,” he said. "I’m an easy coach. What I want to do is when I see that they want to succeed to a certain point, I want to help them. And give them an extra push to make it. That’s it. I’ve done that before with other swimmers, and I do that with them. There is no difference. That’s my job, to help them. I’m the tool to where they want to go. That’s it. I’m not the goal, I’m their tool. They have to achieve it their own way. That’s it.”

Farhat will be rooting for his swimmers to do well at the state championships.

 "I’m just wishing them all the luck,” Farhat said. "I think they have a good chance to do well.”

As for Farhat, he plans to continue coaching.

"So far, so good,” he said. "There’s still a lot of kids in the pool. Retiring is not in my mind yet. I’m still good and healthy.”

He’s now coaching the child of one of his former swimmers at the Y. It’s the first time that’s happened.

“He’s six years old,” Farhat said. "If I stick around, I’ll be getting their kids.”