"Building Champions and Tomorrows Leaders"

History of the Desert Sharks

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With the goal of providing an environment in which student athletes can excel athletically and personally, the Desert Sharks Swim Club started as the Ft. Bliss Sharks in 1972. Our original goal remains the same, we continue to strive for excellence in swimming and life! The driving philosophy of our club is "Sound Mind, Healthy Body". With this in mind the DSSC training environment goes far beyond competitive swimming. The entire coaching staff, board members, and parent's work together to promote hard work, commitment, good sportsmanship, loyalty and understanding of priorities. These are skills that have and will continue to make our Desert Sharks' swimmers successful in life.

We host two (2) swim meets a year that attract over 300 swimmers to each meet. Our meets have developed a reputation as some of the best run and competitive meets in the area.

Out of the hundreds of swimmers that have come to the Desert Sharks, we have had many go on and swim in college, with many receiving full or partial scholarships based on their swimming ability. Last year we had four (4) swimmers individually quality for the junior nationals. The same four (4) swimmers have made a Senior National qualifying time in the 400 Free Style Relay. We have several swimmers that are very close to achieving a Junior National qualifying time and we consistently send a decent contingent of swimmers that qualify for the Texas Age Group Championship.

This last year the Desert Sharks completed their most successful season. Desert Shark swimmers broke over 15 city records dating as far back as the 1970's. At the state level, Desert Shark swimmers won four (4) relay titles and had ten (10) of the top sixteen (16) reportable times in the nation. The team cracked into the top twenty (2) at the state level placing 15th at the summer championships. Our 13 & 14-year-old boys won the overall High Point Award at the state meet this summer by scoring the most points in their age group.

The Desert Sharks High School Swimmers have been the only swimmers to become Public School All-Americans the last five (5) seasons. We are consistently placing our elite swimmers in college programs including TCU, Southwest Missouri State, West Point, BYU and the University of Arizona. Our swimmers have received awards from outstanding civic groups such as the Sunturians and The El Paso Hall of Fame. Two (2) out of the last three (3) years our male athletes have been chosen as District 2-5A Athletes of the Year.