School’s swim coach makes a splash in and out of the pool
It would be virtually impossible for Chais Plascencia to forget where she came from, not with an estimated 30,000 photos saved to her phone of students she has coached at Western International High School in Detroit.
Plascencia, better known as Coach Chais by her many friends, says the photos keep her connected to the people and the southwest Detroit community she loves.
“I live right here in the neighborhood – a half mile from the school – this is where I grew up,” the 38-year-old, 2001 graduate of Western said. “Each swimmer I coach becomes a part of my family within this community.”
Coach Chais’ connection to the school and community that nurtured her as a youth brought her back to Western as a volunteer assistant swimming coach shortly after she graduated from high school, even while taking classes at Wayne State University. That connection also led her to take on the head coaching responsibilities for the Western boys and girls swimming teams while still in her 20s. And it is her connection and commitment to her family of Western swimmers that drives her to keep the girls and boys swimming teams going today, despite the challenges still presented by the pandemic.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, I said to myself that no matter what kind of process I have to go through to have a season that I was going to do it because I love coaching,” explained Coach Chais, who dealt with adversity earlier in her coaching career when Western was without its own pool for three years from 2009-11. “I learned from my parents (Rosalia and the late Oscar Madrigal) that when you start something important you finish it, and swimming is important for our city because it makes our youth stronger – physand mentally. It gives them something to be super dedicated to.”
Dedication to swimming is central to the bond that Coach Chais has had with hundreds of Western students. But, in the beginning, she says some of her swimming team members were not swimmers at all.
“I take everyone, even if they can’t swim,” said coach Chais, who says she wants to change the narrative about inner-city children being more at risk to drown than other youths. “You don’t have to be the fastest, just learn how to swim and be the best you can be. The goal is for everyone to be able to swim in an official freestyle event at a meet.”
And for every student who accepts coach Chais’ open invitation to swim, a strong support system awaits that extends beyond the pool, as 11thgrader Guillermo Trevino experienced. When Trevino arrived at Western, he looked forward to playing on Western’s baseball team, a perennial power among league squads in the Detroit Public Schools Community District. However, while Trevino was already skillful with a baseball bat and glove, he hadn’t gotten around to learning how to swim prior to beginning ninth grade.
“I was really shy at first, but everyone helped me on the team,” said Trevino, who gave the swimming team a try as a freshically man at Western with encouragement from his sister Anastasia Trevino, who was already on the girls team. “We’re all really close on the team – we hang out, we go to movies – and their (my teammates) friends became my friends, so it also helped me to meet new people at school.”
Trevino also discovered that the same natural athleticism that allowed him to excel on a baseball diamond also transferred to swimming once he received instruction from coaches and teammates who wanted to see him shine. Trevino says, with genuine modesty in his voice, that it took him about a week to learn how to swim. And by “putting in more work” the now two-sport (baseball and swimming) standout at Western says he looks forward to dropping more times in the pool during his junior season, particularly in the 100- and 500-meter freestyle events.
The goal-setting element of swimming also resonates with Miriam Sanchez, a senior at Western who is the captain of the girls team. While members of her team used the late summer to begin physical conditioning and swimming practice, Sanchez also used that time to reflect and envision what she would like to see from her entire team.
“What I really hope for is a lot of girls who are committed to swimming and willing to try new things,” said Sanchez, who is competing in her third season at Western. “Trying new things before it’s too late – that’s very important. I wish I would have joined the team my freshman year, but I didn’t see myself doing this until I saw some of my friends on the team.”
Josh Coffey knows firsthand about remaining a part of the Western swimming program family after graduation.
When he is not helping make Mustangs at the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant, the 2007 Western graduate can often be found in the pool working with Western’s swimmers.
“We always promote getting good grades, and we do all we can to keep them moving forward in their lives,” Coffey said. “The more education, the better off they will be.”
Coach Chais demonstrated this year that the talks about education around the pool are not just for the benefit of the current Western swimmers. In January, while balancing the responsibilities of caring for her family (husband, Jaime, and 10-year-old daughter Rosalia) and grandparents (Maria and Eliazar Salinas), and also navigating the numerous required health protocols to keep the Western boys swimming season on track, The do-it-all coach Chais decided to address some unfinished business at Wayne State by reenrolling as a part-time student.
“God willing,” she said she hopes to graduate by 2024 with a secondary education degree. And after receiving her teaching certification, she would like to one day add “Adaptive Physical Education” to her teaching vitae.
“I would never stop coaching,” coach Chais said. “...From the beginning, coaching swimming just felt normal and there was a feeling in my gut that I was supposed to help. And that feeling has never gone away.”
I TAKE EVERYONE, EVEN IF THEY CAN’T SWIM. YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THE FASTEST, JUST LEARN HOW TO SWIM AND BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE.
Coach Chais Plascencia