A year after last summer’s lower-key Verde Valley Invitational, seven teams and 250 swimmers will be competing Saturday, July 18, in what will be a “very bittersweet” final home meet for Cottonwood Clippers head coach Daniel Nevarez.
At the Cottonwood Outdoor Pool, 35 swimmers 8 years old and younger from Bullhead City, Kingman, Payson, Prescott Valley, Sedona and Needles, Calif., will be competing in the invitational, which will start at 8:30 a.m.
“We haven’t had a VVI this big in three years,” Nevarez said. “We even tried to get the Flagstaff Lumberjacks down. So we’re praying the weather holds up.”
Nevarez, a full-time property manager and realtor, told his swimmers in mid-May that, for personal and professional reasons, this summer would be his last as Clippers head coach after seven years.
“This was the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my life,” he said. “I’m getting my broker’s license and I have the opportunity to do property management and sales.
“In an un-perfect world, I can’t do both [that and coaching]. So this is not a decision I came by lightly. I just feel like there are new opportunities for me with my job that I’m excited to proceed with.”
