South Belt Area "All Stars" Prepare for 2016 Summer Season

The South Belt Area "All Stars' Swimming Team
finished in third place at the 2015 TAAF
Region 14 Championships.
Submitted Photo, Used with Permission.

By Chris Price
Copyright 2016 Texas Aquatics News

TEXAS GULF COAST (July 1, 2016) The Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (TAAF) Region 14 Swimming Championship is scheduled for Saturday, July 16, 2016 in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas. The South Belt Area “All Stars” Swimming Team will again be competing in the meet for gold, silver, and bronze medals; and a trip to the TAAF Games of Texas Summer State Championships on July 28-31 in McAllen, Texas.

South Belt will be sending a large contingent of swimmers, between the ages of seven and 62 years old. The team, which is made up of swimmers from the greater Houston area, will be looking to match their third place in the team standings from 2015. SBAS placed 19^th in the team standings at the 2015 Games of Texas held at Texas A&M University.

The “All Stars” have a long history in TAAF swimming, going back to 2004. They are one of the few teams from the Houston area that have qualified swimmers for the Games of Texas every year since their inception. In addition to finding success at the state level, they have sent swimmers to multi-state and national level competitions, along with bringing back medals to the Houston area and establishing and setting records at every level.

The team is led by the coaching duo of Darla and Robert Kelly. The husband and wife team have been a major fixture in the local, state, and national swimming scene for over 40 years. Robert is the aquatic facilities manager for the Pasadena Independent School District while Darla serves as the head swimming and diving coach at Pasadena High School. In addition to being the aquatic facilities manager for PISD, Robert is also the head swimming and diving coach for both Sam Rayburn High School and Pasadena Memorial High School.  Their involvement in the sport of swimming is not limited to just themselves. The couple will be joined by daughter  Kristine, who swam in college for the University of Houston and seven-year-old granddaughter Kirstin, who is in her second year of competition.

At the 2015 Games of Texas, the Kelly females became the first in TAAF history to see three generations from one family compete at the state level competition. In fact, a member of the Kelly family has competed and medaled in every Games of Texas Summer State Championship since 1997.