You could feel her apprehension, but also sense her excitement and degree of confidence bubbling underneath.

Little 8-year-old Abby O’Sullivan of the Mission Viejo Nadadores did her first ocean swim today at the annual Seal Beach Rough Water Swim in Seal Beach, California.

“I have swum in a lake before, but this is my first swim in the ocean. We are going to swim out there,” she pointed towards the buoy positioned 100 meters from shore.

Her coach Siga Rose has been introducing ocean swimming to young ones since she first started coaching herself as a teenager in Southern California. “I just want them to enjoy the experience. And the same with their parents. Then they will all come back.”

By the looks of Abby and her teammates warming up and getting ready for their first ocean swim, it appears that Coach Rose has been accomplishing her mission extraordinarily well.

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