“POULSBO – The North Kitsap High School girls’ swimming and diving team is ready to dive into a new season. And with the teams pushing 35 members, coaches Marilyn Grindrod and Greg Braun are looking for one thing: improvement. Improvement, Braun said, is the yardstick team members measure themselves by. That’s what we’re looking for, he said. That’s our whole focus. Last season that measurement was positive, he said. We think the team did very well, he said. We had a lot of rookies who learned an awful lot of skills. We saw times improve across the board, Braun said after a Thursday practice. The team will have lots of room to grow this year with many inexperienced swimmers and divers coming in. The ideal thing would be a crop of experienced kids coming in, Braun said. But do we like teaching skills? We do. It’s challenging and rewarding at the same time, Grindrod said. One of their students will be Andrea Doeleman, a sophomore at the high school. Last year was her first year doing competitive swimming. I always loved swimming, and I thought it would be fun for me to try out for the team, she said. Her favorite part of the first season, Doeleman said, was the competition. I liked the meets, they keep you on your toes, she said. I really improved … (the coaches) helped me on my speed. Doeleman will be joined on the team by fellow sophomore Jennifer Guido. It’s not only her first year on the North Kitsap team, it’s her first year in competitive swimming. All my friends were in it, and I thought it would be a good challenge, she said. I swam a lot when I was younger. While Guido and Doeleman are swimmers, there is also a group of divers on the club. Why did they pick this discipline? I’ve been diving here on my own, said freshman Emma House. I just started doing it on my own and I started to like it. Also a freshman, Kris Dickson said, I’ve been diving (at the community pool) for three and a half years, and the coach has been dropping hints, she said. It will also be the first year on the diving team for junior Jenny Doehme. I’ve never done this, she said, but it looks like fun. The team, Coach Grindrod said, will be trying to do something more than win meets – though that would be nice, she added. If you look at the number of kids coming in who still enjoy the water, I’d say we’ve been very successful, she said. It’s about self-esteem, goals and making them strive to reach their potential. Braun said, When the kids go from ‘I can’t,’ to ‘I won’t,’ then to ‘I’ll try’ and ‘I can.’ When we see that … “