AHI swim team sign-ups are underway
American Canyon’s AHI swim team is gearing up for the summer season, just as warm temperatures have returned.
Sign-ups have begun for the competitive recreational swim team’s 2026 swim season, which starts April 2. The team’s off-season practice sessions end March 20.
About 100 children 4 to 18 years old participate every summer in the AHI swim team – named after the tuna fish. To sign up, youngsters must be able to swim at least one length of the pool.
During the summer, the team trains five days a week at American Canyon High School’s pool. During the off-season clinics, the swimmers practice at Phillip West Aquatic Center.
It will be Andrea Cifelli’s second season coaching the AHI swim team. Cifelli juggles these responsibilities along with her job as a recreation coordinator focusing on aquatics programs for the city of Novato.
For Cifelli, swimming is a way of life. She grew up swimming in American Canyon, where she continues to live.
She began swimming when she was 6 years old, first with an after-school program and later with AHI. Her doctor had recommended swimming because of her asthma.
She just fell in love with swimming, Cifelli said.
“It’s peaceful,” Cifelli said. “Not one can bug you when you’re swimming. And I’ve always liked the repetitive motion of it.”
The Phillip West Aquatic Center where she swam is named after a U.S. Marine killed in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. West was a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the municipal pool. One of the youngsters he taught was Cifelli.
She swam through her teen years with AHI and a year-round competitive swim team. Cifelli, a member of American Canyon High School’s first graduating class, also joined the Wolves’ swimming and water polo teams. She became an assistant coach for the AHI swim team.
Cifelli then served seven years with the U.S. Navy. During that time, Cifelli swam for exercise.
After leaving the U.S. Navy, she resumed coaching.
“I just wanted to give back,” Cifelli said.
Cifelli has learned patience, hard work and other values from her years in sports. Her mentors inspired her to become a coach, she added.
Through AHI, Cifelli is connected to swimming associations that offer various resources, including input on workouts and new competition rules.
Cifelli, 30, will be coaching AHI swimmers with support from assistant and teen coaches. These teenagers could one day coach AHI swimming.
The swimmers once again this year will have the opportunity once again this year to practice water polo one day a week. Half of the pool is designated for water polo while the other half is set up for swim laps.
The idea is to give swimmers an opportunity to have a break from swimming laps, Cifelli said. It is also an opportunity to introduce middle schoolers to water polo in case they are interested in playing high school water polo, said Cifelli, who coached the Wolves’ varsity girls water polo team last fall.
American Canyon High School junior Belle Ramp will be an AHI teen coach and swimmer this summer. Belle also plays water polo for the Wolves’ varsity team.
Water polo builds different muscle groups, Belle said. “It’s good to switch it up.”
Most swimmers are 7 to 12 year old. However, the team is trying to recruit more teens this year, Cifelli said.
A nonprofit organization runs the team Ahi swim team with the help of parents and an all-volunteer board.
AHI competes in the Tri County Swim League, which also includes teams from Solano and Contra Costa counties. Meets are on Saturdays.
Aubrie Gutierrez, 11, a fifth-grader at Donaldson Way Elementary School, has been swimming with AHI for four years. She has made a lot of friends swimming, Aubrie said. A younger sister also swims.
Her easiest swim stroke is freestyle. She also likes butterfly because she has a lot of upper-body strength and finishes her races strongly. She is looking forward to playing water polo.
Her mother, Kristen Gutierrez, said she loves swimming for her daughters. “It’s great for them, physically,” said Gutierrez, a AHI board member.
Swimming is both an individual and a team sport, Guttierez added. Her daughters work on their own strokes while being part of a team, she said.
Belle Ramp’s mother, Charissa Ramp, said she liked the AHI families. Parents cheer for all the kids, not just their own, said Ramp, AHI’s board president .
Belle tried to swim with a year-round competitive team for a while but did not enjoy it as much as the AHI program in part because it was so much more competitive. Belle prefers AHI’s great sense of community, she said.
She has developed self-confidence from sports, said Belle, the 2025 Vine Valley Athletic League water polo goalie of the year. The league includes North Bay schools, including American Canyon High School and Napa’s high schools
In the meantime, Belle looks forward to this year’s AHI season. The other kids are really nice and the coaches are friendly. The volunteers who run the team are “super sweet and understanding,” Belle said.
“It’s such a fun time,” Belle said. “I always enjoy my summers.”
