La Quinta High School swimmer Charlie Graves calls himself an entertainer. He loves to get the crowd going and make his teammates smile. And whenever he steps onto the starter's blocks, he always yells in a big, sportscaster voice, “All right, guys, this is what it all comes down to!”
But Graves, the Blackhawks' autistic athlete, can now call himself something else: a CIF-SS champion.
Last year, the CIF added two special needs swimming events to the CIF-SS sectional finals, and this year they increased the number of events to three, with Graves competing in all three along with his teammates at the Division 3 meet at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut.
Graves placed second in the Para 50-yard freestyle and Para 100-yard freestyle, and won the CIF-SS Division 3 title in the Unified 2 x 50 Freestyle Relay, a new event in which special needs swimmers and general swimmers team up to compete in a relay race. Graves teamed up with sophomore Jack Lindsay of the La Quinta High School swim team to compete in the title.
“It feels like a dream come true. I've wanted to do this for 17 years,” said Graves, a junior at La Quinta High School. “I started out slow, but I got faster as time went on. Freestyle is my favorite of all the swimming strokes.”
Graves said he started swimming six or seven years ago after his father encouraged him to try a sport – he tried cross country swimming but soon found a new passion.
“I did a little bit of cross country, and then I saw they were doing swimming, looked into it, heard they were doing races, and I was like, 'I've got to join!'” Graves said, vividly recalling her first swim at the pool at Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley.
He said the competitive part is what excites him most. He loves times, he loves trying different strokes, he loves trying to go faster. But what really gets his blood pumping is standing on the starting block, knowing the race is about to begin. It's that sense of anticipation.
“It reminds me of riding the roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm,” he said. “Just the launch.”
Graves enrolled at La Quinta High School prior to last school year and got to know Stephanie Adams, the swimming coach and physical education teacher. Adams said that having Graves on the team has only been a positive for the team and that she enjoys seeing the changes he has made to the team.
“He definitely brings a different dynamic to our team and the kids really get on with him and love watching him swim,” Adams said. “He loves the sport and he always makes everyone laugh and brightens up everyone's day.”
There has been a learning curve when it comes to coaching athletes with autism, but Graves and Adams, along with the other coaches and staff, work well together, she said.
“In some ways it was nice to have him with me in gym class for a year before spring sports and swimming started,” she said. “I already had some idea of the best way to work with him. Sometimes we have to pivot to get him back on track, but it's been an entirely positive experience.”
And when it comes time to swim, he always brings his trademark showmanship to the table.
“Oh man, you should have seen him at the CIF-SS meet getting the crowd fired up and fired up and cheering,” Adams said.
Lindsay echoed that sentiment, saying she didn't hesitate when Adams asked her to partner Graves in a two-man relay at the CIF-SS event. Lindsay said it felt just like any other meet, except maybe there were a few more spectators and, of course, there were only two people in this relay instead of four.
“It was awesome to win with Charlie,” Lindsay said. “I'm so glad he's a part of our team. It was so much fun having him around. He always puts a smile on everybody's faces and lifts our spirits. He's a big part of our team.”
Graves hopes to return for his senior season next year and repeat as a CIF-SS champion, but no matter what happens in the pool, he'll have fun.
“I bring excitement and happiness to my team. I often say, 'A bad day at the pool beats a good day at school,'” he said with his usual big smile.
