Tenafly’s Cho Brothers Reap Medals at NJPMA Championships

Posted in: Kids Sports on August 12, 2010 at 9:14 am |

Eight-year-old Eddy Cho, a member of the Tenafly Swim Club, won three titles at the NJPMA (Bergen County) championships on Saturday, August 7, at Stony Brook Swim Club in Hillsdale. Ranked number one in the nation in his age group, Cho was victorious in freestyle and backstroke and butterfly races. Photo by Bill Allen-NJ Sport/Action

By W. L. Bill Allen, Jr.
Director, NJ Sport/Action

TENAFLY–  When you look at what the three Cho Brothers from the Tenafly Swim Club have already accomplished at their young ages as far as aquatics exploits go, it comes as no surprise that their mother was a South Korean Junior National champion swimmer thirty years ago.
At the New Jersey Pool Managers Association (NJPMA) championships, a week-long series of meets more commonly called the “Counties,” 10-year-old William Cho came home with two gold medals and a silver salute, while his eight-year-old twin brothers, Eddy and Andy, garnered a total of four first place finishes and a third place effort.

A member of the Tenafly Swim Club, William Cho, 10, finished first in both the Junior IM and the breaststroke and second in the butterfly at the NJPMA (Bergen County) championships on Saturday, August 7, at Stony Brook Swim Club in Hillsdale. Photo by Bill Allen-NJ Sport/Action

William finished first in the both 9-10 25 meter breaststroke (:19.47) and the 100-meter 10-and-under individual medley (1:20.80) and was the runnerup in the 25 butterfly with a time of :16.75.

Ranked first in his age group nationally, Eddy won three NJPMA championships by finishing first in the 7-8 25 backstroke (:20.17), freestyle (:16.48) and butterfly (:18.06) battles, while his twin, Andy, won the 7-8 25-meter breaststroke championship with a :23.11 showing and was third in backstroke at :21.25.
The brothers’ mother, Juya, who was a Junior National champion in South Korea at the age of 12 in 1980, is now the head coach at Wave NJ, a year-round club team which is based at the JCC in Tenafly.

Andy Cho, an eight-year-old member of the Tenafly Swim Club, garnered gold in breaststroke and bronze in backstroke at the NJPMA (Bergen County) championships on Saturday, August 7, at Stony Brook Swim Club in Hillsdale Photo by Bill Allen-NJ Sport/Action

“The key to high-level performance in swimming is consistency,” emphasized Cho. “If you want to be really good, you must practice each and every day and you must take it seriously and be as disciplined as possible.”

Tags: 4-8 featured NJPMA pre-teen swimming Tenafly Tenafly Swim Club