Myles5

Plum Hollow Swim Season 2008

Dedicated to Myles Beckley

The Biggest Little Piranha Ever

Myles is a HUGEmongous part of the Piranha swim team and community. Myles started coming to PHCC before his first birthday and has been lighting people up ever since. His huge smiles, crazy hair, and joyous energy drew all eyes toward him whenever he was around. You just smiled.

Myles could hold his breath for an amazing amount of time. He preferred to swim under the water rather than on top of it. He loved jumping off the side of the pool before he could even swim. He moved up to ‘diving’ off the blocks and jumping off the diving board before he was 5. He’d even do a flip off the diving board, and come up smiling, with his hair pasted down the sides of his head and onto his shoulders.  Everyone at PHCC always embraced Myles and everyone wanted a piece of him. He was a huge hit with the lifeguards, the younger members of the swim team, the teens and the families. At dances after meets, there was always a line to dance with Myles. Myles’ parents were often approached and asked by a youth if they could get a turn holding Myles or dancing with him, sometimes complaining, “I want to dance with Myles … but she’s controlling him.”

After supporting his sister during meets when he was younger and lighting up the dances, Myles made the swim team when he was four years old. The youngest swim division is 8 and unders, so Myles was a bit of a prodigy. Getting his uniform and hanging out with the team during meets, Myles was a center of gravity for the whole team. At meets, he had this effect on both teams and the full clubs attending the competition. All eyes seemed to be on Myles. During his races, the entire audience cheered for him.  If only there was an underwater 25M race … .

Many from the PHCC community supported the Beckleys during the winter months after Myles’ accident. And they planned what they would do to celebrate Myles when the pool opened in the Spring. The first thing was a tree planting for Myles. Plum Hollow had discontinued plantings and namings at the Club years earlier. But for Myles, the only question was where the tree would go. It was considered for a place on the grounds visible from both the pool and the tennis courts where Myles honed his skills. It was finally decided that Myles’ tree would go directly at the entrance to the pool and tennis clubhouse – so that Myles is the “first thing you think about when you enter the club and the last you think about when you leave.” A beautiful snowstorm cherry, dangling it’s blossoms like Myles’ curly mane, stands proudly right at the entrance to the club.  A bronze plaque carries the legend, “Myles Beckley – the Biggest little Piranha ever.”

The club and team’s colors are purple and white. It’s well known that regardless of how the team finishes in the swim standings each year, PHCC is the perennial champion for swimsuit design. The team decided to carry Myles’ on the team tee-shirt this year – on the left sleeve. The season would be dedicated to Myles. The pool deck of each club at every meet in 2008 would be filled with a sea of purple, all proudly carrying Myles’ name on their sleeve near their hearts.

The team planned a ceremony for the first meet of the year. Myles apparently didn’t like the date, so he had the meet cancelled and rescheduled. Only he knows the reason why (he accomplished it through a freak power outage that did not affect the surrounding area). At the beginning of the meet, the Board of Directors of the club officially dedicated Myles’ tree. There was a 100 balloon release – all in blue, Myles’ favorite color. Both clubs and their supporters listened intently as a number of folks spoke about Myles and what he means to us – including Myles coach, Ryan Boom. Here’s what Ryan had to say:

6/17/08

“I’d like to say a few words about Myles on behalf of the coaching staff and swimmers at Plum Hollow.

Myles was courageous. He was always eager to tackle any new challenges at practice, whether learning how to swim butterfly or how to do a flip off the diving board. He was the type of kid who couldn’t dive without smacking his belly, but still insisted to go off the block for every race.

Myles was respectful. Between Theresa and Myles, I have never met any kids so polite and considerate as the Beckleys. I still have a homemade thank you card from Myles and Theresa, and it’s something I will hold onto for a long time.

Myles was a leader. This team really rallied behind him. You could always expect more Piranhas to stand behind Myles’ lane to cheer for him during his race than any other race of the meet. Everyone on the team knew Myles, and everyone fed off his energy.

I will miss watching Myles improve every day. His goal last summer was to make a whole length of the pool without stopping. He came so close to achieving this goal. I remember Myles’ last meet at BAC. While he swam the 25 free, I followed him down the pool deck, and he was doing so great until he took a breath and saw me cheering like a madman … and he started laughing so hard that he couldn’t breathe and he had to grab onto the laneline for support.

So Myles never made it all the way down the pool without stopping, but he did make it all the way into the heart of this team. Tonight I think everyone on this team wears their heart on their sleeve. Myles’ name is right here to remind you all to be courageous, to be kind, and to be leaders, just like Myles.

I hope everyone will swim hard tonight in Myles’ honor. Somewhere I’m sure he’s cheering for you all.” 

For the record, during our trip in Costa Rica, Myles swam the whole length of the pool, without anyone prompting. After seeing him on one side, I turned around to see that he had struggled all the way to the other, on his own, to show us that he could. I’m sure it was for you, Coach Ryan.  Myles’ Dad.

Plum Hollow and the Piranha Swim Team has instituted an annual award in honor of Myles – the Myles Beckley Spirit Award. It is awarded to the swim team member each year who best exemplifies Myles’ spirit. A plaque resides in the pool and tennis house highlighting each year’s winner. The winner receives a trophy and, courtesy of the Beckley family and Myles, their choice of: 1. a party for 10 of their friends at Chuck E Cheeses (Myles favorite), or 2. a movie date for 10 of their friends to the movie of their choice.