Riverdale Guambo
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The Riverdale Guambo is the Riverdale Country School Swim Team. The team was created in 1961, originally called the Riverdale Falcons. Throughout its history, the Riverdale Swim Team has won a combined 10 New York High School Ivy League Swimming Championships. The Riverdale Guambo has been an important institution in the Riverdale Athletic community as well as the New York High School swimming community in general, having a long history of producing great swimmers and making the sport enjoyable for spectators, opponents, and especially the Guambos themselves. The coach of the Guambo for the past 13 years has been Brian Carver.
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[edit] Origins of the Name
The Riverdale Guambo was originally called the Riverdale Falcons up until 1973. The legend behind the mysterious name is that, on their way to a meet at Ardsley, at the time one of Riverdale's biggest rivals, the senior boys team attempted to think of a good way to pump the rest of the team up before a meet that they were confident they would lose. They decided upon cheering the nonsensical phrase "Guambo" over and over again, getting louder and louder as they cheered. Miraculously, they won the meet by a large margin (28 points), and from that point on their luck changed. Over the years the cultish fascination with the word led them to change the name of the team, and a separate captain was elected every year to deal with matters concerning pre-meet rituals (called the High Priest Guambo). The tradition of having a High Priest has dissipated since then.
[edit] Championship Wins
Since the creation of the team, Riverdale has won 1 co-ed New York High School Swimming Championship, 4 Women's New York High School Swimming Championships, and 6 Men's New York High School Swimming Championships. The Ivy League Swimming Conference has gone through many changes over the years. They include:
- 1962-1977: Boys only league (No girls could compete)
- 1978-2002: Co-ed league (Boys and girls competing against each other)
- 2002-Present: Separate Boys and Girl Leauge (Boys against boys, girls against girls)
| Year | Championship | |
| 1962 | Boys Tied Hackley | |
| 1963 | Boys (No girls Team) | |
| 1976 | Boys (No Girls Team) | |
| 1977 | Boys (No Girls Team) | |
| 2002 | Co-Ed | |
| 2003 | Boys and Girls Win Separately | |
| 2004 | Girls (Undefeated) | |
| 2005 | Girls (Undefeated) | |
| 2006 | Girls (Undefeated) | |
| 2007 | Boys |
[edit] Facilities
[edit] Pool
The Riverdale Guambo swim at the Mnuchin Family Pool below the Zambetti Gymnasium at Riverdale Country School. The Mnuchin Family Pool was dedicated in 2007, before which it was simply referred to as the Guambo Pool.
[edit] The Banner
The Mnuchin Family Pool has had a banner since at least 1975. The banner originally was a small black square that said "Guambo", and was later on replaced with a large maroon square with a picture of a swimmer's head on it and the words "Riverdale Swimming". The banner has always been considered a superstitious relic of the Guambo, and it has been a long standing tradition for the swimmers to, while walking to the pool deck from the locker room, tap the banner on their way to the starting blocks before the start of the meet.
[edit] Training
The Riverdale Guambo swim competitively from November until February, with practices extending an additional two weeks for swimmers competing in larger scale competitions like the Easterns High School Swimming Championship. Pre-season practices begin in September. Swimmers also volunteer one week of their winter vacation to participate in a team training trip in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to prepare for the second half of the season.
The Guambo accept all applying swimmers (without try-outs) attending Riverdale from Freshman year up to senior year. In cases when a Middle Schooler is very talented, or the team is in need of additional swimmers to fill spots in events, Eighth graders are moved up to the Varsity level. Seventh graders are often not moved up from the Middle School level unless they are extremely talented. Sixth graders are allowed to train with the team, but not compete even at the Middle School level. The Middle School team practices two times a week, but Coach Carver plans to accelerate their program next year, possibly extending practices to three times a week. Varsity swimmers practice every day, with practices available either early in the morning or after school. Long Varsity practices are also held on Saturdays.
[edit] Coaches
The head coach of the Riverdale Guambo since 1994 has been Brian Carver. The assistant coaches of the team are Amy Mattini, Melissa Hadley (Carver's girlfriend), Sarah Szotak, and Courtney Arduini. More than two thirds of the Guambo's New York High School championships have been under the leadership of Coach Carver. During the off season Brian Carver runs the Iron Man and teaches Math and Technology at Riverdale Country School. Amy Mattini teaches Middle School Mathematics at Riverdale. Melissa Hadley teaches Lower School Physical Education and health at Riverdale. Coaches Szotak and Arduini are both students at Manhattan College, to graduate in 2007.
Coach Carver is also an avid Simpsons fan, and plans to take his favorite Junior Class swimmers to see the upcoming Simpsons Movie in June of 2007. Brian Carver also enjoys long walks on the beach, beautiful women, and his collection of French wines.
[edit] Trivia
- The official restaurant of the boys swim team is Dallas BBQ, notorious for their pork and beef ribs
- It has been said that to bring good luck a swimmer should, before each race, kiss Peter Schreiner, a member of the team, on the cheek.
