FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Flanagan family lounges in the pool at Oahu Club in Hawaii Kai. Parents Jack, back left, and Robin, back right, have watched their four children -- Kevin, left, Maureen, Katie and John -- grow into champion swimmers.
Family of champion
swimmers nurtures
young talent
For the Flanagan family, the 50-meter pool at the Oahu Club is their living room. And it has been a comfortable place.
In that pool, the Flanagans have watched their children grow and mature into four of the best swimmers in Hawaii.
How do you account for four champions coming from one family?
Eldest son John, 28, won six state swim championships at Punahou before becoming a member of the 1997 Auburn University NCAA championship men's swim team. After graduating magna cum laude with a degree in finance, John swam for gold medals in the 1998 World Championships and 1999 Pan Pacific Games. His victories came not in the pool, but in exhausting five- and 10-kilometer open-ocean swims.
Following right behind was Kevin, 24, who graduated in 2000 as a two-time All American swimmer at Florida State University. Kevin won three high school swim championships while at Punahou and was a High School All American.
Maureen, 21, nicknamed "Mo," is a swimming record-holder at Punahou who moved to the competitive world of water polo. She was recruited by UCLA, where she became a reliable scorer and defender who helped the team to two national championships.
Finally, Katie, 18, just finished her first year at UCLA after also swimming and playing water polo at Punahou. At 6 feet, Katie is a defender on the UCLA team.
Two years ago, both Kevin and John made it all the way to the exclusive Olympic trials, competing in the mile and the sprints.
"The kids all got their sports talents from Jack," says mom Robin Flanagan. "He's been involved in sports all along -- basketball, tennis and softball,"
Both Robin and Jack Flanagan grew up in Omaha, Neb. He served 20 years as a supply officer in the Navy after graduating from Iowa State University.
"Our four kids have just been amazing," Jack says.
But the story doesn't end with four talented and hard-working young athletes. Robin and her two sons have merged their talents to become a local swim team power.
It started when Hawaii Kai's Oahu Club, where Robin managed the swim program, closed last June.
The club was bought by a Japanese construction firm, Mugishima Co., and after three months of renovation, it was reopened with Robin Flanagan going from swimming instructor to general manager.
Kevin, who was Kamehameha swim club coach, hired brother John as co-head coach and merged the small team that practiced at Kamehameha Schools with the larger Oahu Club coached by Robin.
The Kamehameha team was struggling with few swimmers, but had use of a new pool on the Kamehameha Schools campus. Oahu Club had almost 80 swimmers, but needed coaches.
The new combined team went on to win both the short-course and long-course state championships in various age groups. The new combined Kamehameha team has about 160 swimmers ranging in age from eight to 18.
"Hawaii kids have a substantial amount of talent," Kevin says. "If we can provide a program where these kids can really get top-level, quality training, then they can become top-level swimmers."
John jokes that they have an unusual relationship, with two head coaches.
"This way, if they don't like one of us, they will be happy at least half of the time," John says.
The differences between John and Kevin have helped them remain good friends, says Robin Flanagan.
When John was in training for distance events, he would swim 6.5 miles a day while Kevin's training for sprints involved both weight training and swimming.
If there is a difference between sprinters and distance swimmers, there is often a bigger rivalry between swimmers and water polo players, so all four Flanagan siblings are charting different courses through the pool.
Their mother and father agree, however, that it was John's early interest in swimming while they were still living in Charleston, S.C., that led the others into the water.
"The fact that John was practicing every day and going to swim meets made it so they didn't expect anything different," Robin explains.
"John set the work ethic and the others didn't do anything any differently, but they all chose to work as hard and they did, and that is why they were successful."
