Located in Katy, Texas, a rapidly-growing area west of Houston, Katy Aquatics Team for Youth (KATY) was founded in 1986 and today consists of roughly 1200 swimmers ranging from beginners to national-level swimmers.
The club has achieved the Silver Medal in the USA Swimming Club Excellence program the last year two years, and has also earned Level 3 in the USA Swimming Club recognition program.
Travis Sandifer, Executive Director, and Tim Bauer, Director of Competitive Swimming, lead Katy Aquatics, and we talked with them to get an idea of what sets KATY apart.
Bauer had plenty to say about the unique atmosphere that KATY offers, but focused on two aspects: technical excellence and a family atmosphere. KATY focuses on working on technique at every level, and makes sure that even the youngest age group swimmers are working with highly-trained coaches who are going to prepare them technically for what lies ahead in swimming. But it’s not just all about performance at KATY, as they strive to foster an atmosphere that makes the team feel like a family, which is reflected in everything from a team-wide Purple and Black intrasquad meet to a group of tireless parents who make breakfast for the kids on Saturday morning practice.
Every team has its tradition, and KATY is no exception. Some of them are pretty simple, like swimmers giving each other high fives after good sets. Others are a little more unique, like the “Legend of Pink Floyd,” as described by Coach Sandifer.
In 2001, one of our Senior athletes awoke to find two pink flamingos sitting on his front lawn with no rhyme or reason as to how they wound up there. He took them in as his own and named them Roger and Floyd. While Roger enjoyed most of his time in the comfort of He’s home or swim bag, Floyd traveled to many practices and meets, becoming the team’s un-official mascot. Floyd usually makes the travel trip t-shirts with his image, and accompanies the team on the trip.
Like any club that’s been around for over three decades, KATY has seen a lot of change. Sandifer is the unique position of having been involved for the club for most of its history, but over two different stint. When we asked him to talk about the differences he’s seen in the club over the years, Sandifer focused on just how much the program has grown:
My current role with the club is much different than when I was at KATY from 1990-2007. As the Head Coach (1998-2007), my role mainly consisted of being on deck coaching the top Senior group and looking after some day-to-day activities of running a club that had grown from 75-100 swimmers with 9-10 staff members, to one that consisted of 600+ swimmers between our competitive and pre-competitive programs in 2007.
Now, our team has over 1,100 members (approximately 550 competitive and 550 Learn to Swim) with a staff of over 55 employees. In my new role, my job duties have since shifted more towards the operation of the club with no on deck coaching of my own. We recently purchased 5 acres of land in North Katy with a future goal to build our own Aquatic Center. This new journey has directed me to place more emphases on the fundraising aspects of running a non-profit. This year, we developed our First Annual Fall Festival that included our Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction and raffled off a Ford F-150! Though my roles have changed, our mission has stayed the same — providing a world-class swimming environment for all swimmers to develop their full potential as athletes and individuals.
With three decades in the business, experienced and dedicated leadership, a great family atmosphere, and a plan for the future, Katy Aquatics serves the Houston area by offering programs for swimmers from every level, from those just learning to swim to those who have their eyes set on swimming in college and beyond.
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