Making Waves In And Out Of The Pool
By: Beth Northuis
Klare (Northuis) Benson knew from a young age that she enjoyed the water. Growing up in Southwest Michigan, Klare had many opportunities to enjoy summer days out on Lake Michigan or one of the many small inland lakes with friends and family. One of Klare’s earliest memories was jumping into the water up at her family’s cottage. She loved the feeling and the thrill she felt as the water touched her skin. As she says “she was born to be in the water”.
At the age of eight, Klare joined the local Tulip City Aquatic Club (TCAC) age group, swim team. She remembers that she wanted to join the swim team since her older sister had. From that point on Klare was hooked. She fell in love with the sport, teammates, and coaches. Swimming just felt different to her, more than any other sport she had participated in up to this point. She loved feeling like she was part of a team unit, that she was relied upon to contribute. She liked that she was held accountable by her teammates and coaches to be at practice, to work hard, and to give it her all.
Klare was a natural. In her first season with the Michigan Lakeshore Aquatics (MLA) age group team, she made it to the A cut conference meet. As a first time competitive swimmer this was unheard of. Klare still holds the age group record for the 100 freestyle posting a time of 55.1 seconds. Klare’s love for the sport continued to grow along with her competitiveness as she made the jump at 10-years old to swim with the USA club swim team.
For Klare, this was a defining moment in her career, she was more mature in size than others her age and was able to train with high school and college-aged teammates in sixth grade. Being so young did have its downsides though, mentally it was a lot to take in and figure out how to compete at a high level. For Klare, the individual events were always the toughest to prepare for even though she knew what she was capable of performing from her daily training at the pool. For her, she felt like she never fully got her individual races to click even as her career continued into high school. Now for relays, that’s where Klare shined, she’s a game-time team performer. Some of her most memorable moments with her teammates are the relay races. So many meets would come down to the last event the 400 free relay that she would be swimming one of the legs of the race to help the team get the win!
“The adrenaline and thrill of jumping off the block as a teammate is coming into the wall is an amazing feeling. You want to give it your all and help your team win the race” says Klare.
As Klare’s swimming career continued into high school, she knew that their team was something special going into her senior year. The team had put in four hard years of training and work to make their dream become reality. Coach Don Kimble led Holland High School to its first state title in 2011. Holland High set a record that meet in the 400 Free relay with a time of 3:24.46 with a team consisting of Holly Morren, Taylor Garcia, Klare Northuis, and Courtney Bartholomew. Nine years later the record still stands! Klare ended her High School career with seven All American honors for swimming.
Klare’s swimming career continued at Hope College, in Holland Michigan where she overcame injuries, beat school rival Calvin College, Grand Rapids Michigan in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) dual meet her senior year, holds a record in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:50.41 and competed at the Division III (National Collegiate Athletic Association) NCAA National meet twice.
After graduation from Hope College, Klare sought out ways to continue to stay connected to the sport of swimming. Longtime coach and mentor Don Kimble provided her with the perfect opportunity to get into teaching swim lessons and help coach the age group swim team in Byron Center, Michigan. Don the great coach that he is, took the time to get to know his athletes, learned what made them tick, instilled confidence, and helped them achieve the goals that he knew they were capable of before many of them knew it was possible. His approach to Klare was no different. He knew that she would be amazing teaching and guiding these young athletes.
She learned that as a coach you are still able to make contributions to the team by helping the athletes learn skills, achieve goals, and have fun. Klare said, “that she learned a lot more about the sport of swimming through coaching and wished she would have done more to be involved as a coach and mentor while she was still competing”.
When talking about Don who recently passed away, Klare had this to say about her coach and mentor.
“Thank you for showing me what hard work, determination, putting the needs of others first, and giving myself and the rest of us a chance to be a part of something greater than ourselves. The legacy you built will never be forgotten. The sacrifices you and by extension your family have made to keep us going through the ups and downs is something I am continually grateful for. Rest In Peace, DK. You will be greatly missed,”
One of Klare’s most memorable moments while coaching was talking to a four-year-old girl at an age group swim meet who was wearing a diabetic insulin pump and sensor. Klare wanted to pass along encouragement and said “It is so cool what you are doing!”
Klare, who is also a type 1 diabetic was diagnosed at the age of five and wears an insulin pump with a sensor said,
“Being a diabetic you learn that each day, practice, and race your body is going to react differently. The adrenalin of a race could spike your blood sugar numbers too high or it could also keep your numbers too low making it dangerous to compete. Testing your blood sugar regularly is key to being able to know where you are at during the day and knowing what adjustments need to be made so you can get back into the pool for practice or prepare for the next race.”
Most young athletes looking to have someone that they can relate to or look up to that have gone through similar experiences. For this young girl, Klare hopes that she will remember their interaction and the encouragement to keep going even on the tough days.
For a class project HPHE 3980 Sports Media at Western Michigan University
