The Peaks Piranhas have a couple of new coaches steering the boat this season, the mother/daughter pairing of Alyson Schmid and Wendi Christopolis-Schmid.

The local program is open to all youngsters who want to learn the fundamentals of competitive swimming. Practices are held multiple times a week with opportunities to compete at meets around the Valley popping up throughout the year.

The new coaching duo hail from Maryland, where Alyson started swimming for her local team when she was just five years old. She then became a competitive swimmer, taking part in competitions until she graduated high school.

Wendi said that swimming has “always been something that I come back to,” and she took the opportunity of her daughter becoming a swimmer to become more involved in the sport once again.

“When we came to Arizona, Alyson joined a masters team,” Wendi explained. “She’s going to ASU and thought it would be fun, so now we’re both on the same masters swim team.”

Alyson will be a junior at ASU in the fall, majoring in electrical engineering. She’s also a member of the ballroom dance club at ASU, which takes up some of her time when she’s not studying or in the pool. Wendi said she helps out at her husband’s business and, when she’s not serving as assistant coach for the Piranhas, she’ll be assisting for the Notre Dame Prep team as well.

Wendi said the family planned on moving to Arizona for the “second half of life” and, after visiting many times, knew pretty quickly that Fountain Hills was where they wanted to settle down.

Alyson and Wendi started out at Peaks as a way to stay in shape. By this past summer, though, Alyson said she realized it was time to pass on her knowledge of swimming to a whole new generation.

“I’ve wanted a job coaching since I was 13 or 14,” she said. “I was already thinking about different practices I would write, how I would run them and stuff like that. I was a student of the sport for most of my career, so I asked if they were hiring anybody for either swim lessons or for coaching and that’s when they brought me on.”

Wendi said she and her daughter had talked about coaching together before and, once Alyson was set up, the discussion came back around.

“I think we work well together,” Wendi said. “I made sure everything worked with my schedule with Notre Dame Prep and this should work out perfect.”

According to Alyson, her philosophy for coaching is simple.

“I want them to enjoy swimming as much as I did,” she said. “I want them to have the experience where you go there every day and you see your best friends and you’re doing the thing that you love the most.”

Schmid said she wants her swimmers to have fun and build plenty of memories to look back on fondly.

“It’s not really the times or the accolades that I remember anymore,” Alyson added. “It’s the people that I met and the memories that we made.

“So of course I want them to work hard, to get in shape and appreciate what it means to be in shape, but I want them to get the whole experience.”

Wendi agreed.

“With too many kids these days, it’s sit and play video games or sit and text your friends,” she said. “It’s your effort that counts. I want them to get the skills, but trying is the most important. I want to get them moving and see there’s more to do than just sit there.”

As for her athletes, Alyson said everyone should come in every day ready to work.

“If you don’t want to be here, there’s not much I can do for you,” she said. “You have to want to be here and you have to work hard, and that’s all I can ask.”

The fall session runs from Aug. 15 to Oct. 12 and picks back up in April. Interested parties are encouraged to check out the Piranhas at the Aug. 14 parent meeting. The coaches will go through the handbook, talk about the schedule and season, answer questions, etc.

For more information, email coach Alyson Schmid at alyson.schmid@gmail.com.

“This is the perfect place to try out swimming,” Wendi added. “It’s only three practices a week, this upcoming season is a short one and you’ll get to try out a few meets. If you want to give it a try, this is perfect for it.”