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Bredens still contributing for Knights

Heart ailments can’t keep duo away from pool

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Amy and Carolyn Breden were big contributors for the West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls’ swim team two years ago.
   Without swimming a stroke, they still are.
   They have remained vital parts of the Knights program over the past two seasons despite being unable to compete anymore. The sisters were diagnosed with long QT syndrome, the same congenital disorder that ultimately led to a fatal heart attack for their father, Thomas, in July, 2003.
   Carolyn and Amy are both managers for the Knights, but they do enough that they could very well be called assistant coaches.
   ”My original plan was to have them help work with stroke work with the less experienced kids,” said North head coach Theresa Bonanno. “It spiraled to having them take over almost everything but running the team. Our team wouldn’t be as organized as we are without them. They do so much for the team.”
   Amy is a junior who did swimming, crew and volleyball as a freshman. Carolyn was active in crew and swimming. This year, she is a swim team captain, one of two seniors, for the Knights.
   ”It meant a lot to me because, not being able to actually swim with the team, it meant a lot that they wanted to include me in the team,” said the elder of the sisters. “The other captain was the only junior on the team last year. Once they decided to nominate me, it wasn’t too much of a surprise. It was nice that they decided to do that.”
   Carolyn and Amy are not permitted to compete in rigorous physical activity. They are allowed to exercise, but must do so with company. Both are on beta blockers to help prevent any potential arrhythmia of their heart.
   ”We’re not supposed to be subjected to certain kinds of adrenaline rushes,” Carolyn said. “It can make us have an interval that’s a little too long. We can get extra heart beats and then the heart doesn’t have time to recharge.”
   The two began swimming before they played any other sport. Carolyn was 7 when she started with the West Windsor Whalers. Amy was right behind. Carolyn competed for Peddie Aquatics in their middle school years while Amy gravitated to X-Cel Swimming. They did middle school cross country and competed in road races. Carolyn even did a triathlon. By every stretch of the imagination, they were healthy young athletes. And they made an immediate impact on the Knights swim team.
   ”Carolyn was our top breaststroker,” Bonanno said. “Until Kelly Covey, we didn’t have a distance swimmer for our girls and Amy was our top swimmer in the distance events.”
   Long QT syndrome was not diagnosed in Thomas Breden originally, but when Amy began blacking out at crew practices in the spring of 2005, it raised a red flag.
   ”The first time it happened it was inside on the rowing machine,” Amy said. “It happened twice inside and twice in the boat outside. Both times it was really scary. When I was inside, I started to hyperventilate the first time because I got so freaked out by it. It wasn’t as scary the second time because it had happened before. But it was scary outside but all I could think of was, what if I black out long enough and go in the water. I could pass out and fall in.”
   The two girls were tested, and it was discovered they had the heart disorder. The Breden girls were not allowed to compete.
   ”I was really disappointed,” Amy said. “Before, all my extracurricular activities had been sports. I had volleyball in the fall, swimming in the winter and crew in the spring. It was like, what am I going to do now? There’s no more sports. It was really sad.”
   Without being able to compete, the two did the next best thing. They took Bonanno up on her offer to help manage the Knights swim team.
   ”It started out, I just wanted to be at the pool as often as I could,” Carolyn said. “We just kind of did whatever was needed that day. Some days it was working with the computer and doing stuff with the Team Manager (software) for meets. Some days, it meant running dry land and helping with that. Some days, it meant working with strokes. Whatever we were needed in the pool was what we did.”
   The two have jumped into their jobs, but it’s still not easy to take.
   ”Nothing I can do can make a difference in the outcome,” Amy said. “That’s the hardest part for me — to not be able to win the meet or make any difference. That’s why I like scoring during meets. A lot of times, I’m writing stuff down and I don’t even get to see the races.”
   This year is their second year managing the team. Tuesday’s 119-51 win over Nottingham saw the sisters in their familiar positions. Amy was scoring the meet while Carolyn was on deck monitoring the WW-P High North scoring system while keeping the Knights motivated to put in their best effort.
   ”I love the team,” Carolyn said. “I think they did awesome in our first two meets against Lawrence and Notre Dame. I was impressed how quickly they fight, especially our new swimmers. Usually it takes a couple meets to figure out what high school swimming is all about, but I think our team is doing really great.”
   The Breden girls have been accepted as a part of the Knights’ success. They are knowledgeable managers that have a deep-rooted connection to the sport that they loved. They have made the most of a tough situation.
   ”They were disappointed,” Bonanno recalled of the diagnosis. “They were athletes. They did other sports. They were year-round athletes. It wasn’t just swimming. They were absolutely disappointed. We didn’t want to lose them entirely. If we couldn’t have their talent in the pool, we could have them help on deck.
   ”They’ve been great. Academically, they’re all-stars. They’re so well balanced. They do lots of extracurricular activities. Unfortunately, they just can’t compete on the athletic side. Any other kid would have walked away. They’ve dedicated themselves to the team. They have given so much time.”
   And they still have found time to be active and have not allowed long QT syndrome to take away their fun. They recently began taking salsa dancing lessons. They still work out with a big lift from their mother, Nancy.
   ”It was a little hard to get used to at first,” Carolyn said. “My mom was really good about it too. When it wasn’t swim season, I would run in the mornings. We weren’t allowed to exercise by ourselves, so she would get up at 5 a.m. with me to run so I could exercise the way I’m used to. We can still exercise as long as we do it at our own pace and as long as we have someone with us.
   ”I did that for a while. Then we joined a gym. There are always people around at the gym. I switched to going after the school. We had lent our treadmill to our cousins, but we got it back. Now, I’m starting to do it in the morning. And Amy runs every day too. That’s her exercise.”
   And on afternoons, they are at Knights swim practices, helping any way they are needed. It’s helped both of them fill in some of the void left when they could no longer compete.
   ”It’s helped me to be involved,” Amy said. “Somehow being involved with managing, it feels like I’m still part of the team. If I wasn’t doing that, I think it would be a lot harder to deal with it. I wouldn’t be able to be at every meet and be at the parties and be with the team.”
   Being around the swim team in a different capacity than competing has opened the Bredens to a potential future in coaching. Both say they would think of that possibility.
   ”I have thought sometimes, learning what I’m doing with the computer and coaching, it’d probably be fun to do that sometime,” Carolyn said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and what I’d like to do.”
   It’s easy for Bonanno to picture either in coaching. She has seen them in action for two years.
   ”They do everything coaches do,” Bonanno said. “They’re definitely my right hands.”