In the spring of 1998, American River College’s swimming pool had only six shallow lanes and no athletes registered to swim in them. Bethani Black, hired that same spring, set to work improving not only team numbers but the swimming pool facility as well. From barely any swim team, no water polo, and no diving, to a competitive program for all three, there’s no denying Black accomplished that and more.

“The fall of 1998 I was fortunate enough to begin the first ever women’s water polo program. At the time women’s polo was the fastest growing sport at the HS and NCAA level,” Black said.

According to Bethani Black, the true catalyst for making the program more competitive was when the pool was expanded to eight full lanes and a 14-foot depth to allow for diving and legally held water polo games. The project saw fruition through Bethani Black’s efforts and collaboration with then-ARC president, David Viar. The addition of a kinesiology coach and a dive coach, both Bethani Black called “skilled,” as well as the addition of her husband, Eric Black, to help with the swimming and water polo program in fall of 2005 has helped boost the swim program to what it is today. While both Bethani and Eric Black have handed off the reins to the water polo teams, both maintain the roles of swim coach for the men’s and women’s teams.

“When I got hired, they did not have a men’s water polo program, so they restarted a program that had been dropped in 1980,” Eric Black said

Bethani Black cites the care and compassion of the coaching staff across the programs for what makes ARC’s swim program so strong. The team has seen a consistent “rotating talent” according to Eric Black, and have performed very well at the state competitions, coming in third last year and second the two years before that.

Both Bethani and Eric Black also come with extensive histories in swimming and water polo with Bethani Black having been involved in structured swim since the age of 10 and Eric Black having a long history of playing in water polo that then translated to a passion for swimming overall. He attributes the growth of the swim team to the growth and competitiveness of the water polo team as he says one often feeds into the other in both the athletes and his own momentum.

“When you’re coaching water polo and swimming, there’s never any downtime,” Eric Black said.

Luckily for his downtime, there’s now a new head coach for men’s water polo, Zac Koerner, who Eric Black says is doing an “absolutely fantastic” job in keeping the team competitive.

“They’ve both done a great job as far as advocacy for the aquatics program and swimming pool which has led to multiple improvements infrastructure wise […] which has led to athletes coming to play and compete here,” said Steven Roberson, ARC’s athletic director. He added this has also allowed the greater Sacramento region to utilize ARC’s pool facility.

Even with Eric Black keeping retirement in mind and on the table for some time in the future, ARC’s swim program has a brighter future than ever. Bethani Black aims to keep the focus on always providing a positive environment where best effort and hard work is expected and the work put in is for the betterment of the whole team.

For more information on how to join the men’s swim team or the women’s swim team contact Eric Black.