By Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Yesterday I handed out the first-ever Mayor’s Athletic Achievement Awards to three people who have done Somerville proud. They were fifth grade swimmer Tenzin Nordon, equestrian (and Somerville animal control officer) Rachel Taylor, and Somerville Alibrandis star baseball player Marc DesRoches.

Somerville is a community that values achievement. I grew up in this city and my opinion is that the people of Somerville can compete and win against anyone, anywhere, anytime. We should expect the best in this city, not just from our civic institutions, but from ourselves. These three prove my point.

We invest in our schools to encourage students to strive for excellence. We started the Shape Up Somerville program to make Somerville a more active community, and what we’re striving all comes together when you see achievements like these from the people in our city.

Tenzin Nordon was taking swimming lessons at the Highland Avenue YMCA just three years ago. Her family hails from Tibet, a country more famous for its mountains than its swimmers. The family immigrated to the U.S., by way of India, when she was less than a year old. Her father Tashi had no idea he might have a champion swimmer on his hands, but this July Tenzin cleaned up at the New England championship swim meet held at Harvard University.

Swimming for Charles River Aquatics, she won the 50 meter freestyle, the 100 meter freestyle, the 200 meter freestyle, the 50 meter breaststroke, the 100 meter butterfly and the 200 meter individual medley. She took second in the 400 meter freestyle and the 50 meter butterfly, and third in the 50 meter backstroke. She also helped her team to a second and two thirds in the relay events.

That is beyond impressive. It’s a great swim meet even by Michael Phelps’ standards. And I suspect we’ll all be reading the name Tenzin Nordon on a frequent basis in the years to come.

Rachel Taylor, daughter of Somerville Alderman Tom Taylor, began horseback riding when she was eight years-old. By the time she was 13, she began competing seriously in the sport of eventing. You can see it during the Olympics. In fact, it is the only Olympic event where men and women compete as equals and it involves three different disciplines that take place during a three-day period. The first is dressage, which requires the rider to get her horse to perform and intricate series of movements. Next comes the cross-country ride, which can be as long as four miles and requires the rider to negotiate varied terrain and obstacles. Finally there is show jumping, in which the rider must get her horse over all the hurdles in a complex obstacle course. It tests the rider’s ability, concentration, and the trust built between the rider and her horse.

Rachel went to Fairburn, Georgia last month and took third in the Training Amateur division of the American Eventing Championships, getting better every day of the competition. It’s an amazing accomplishment for a girl who comes from a city without a single horse in it and who has to travel to Millis every day to train.

Back in 1996, Marc DesRoches was convinced by his barber, Tony Alibrandi, to try out for Somerville’s Yawkey Baseball League team. Little could Tony have known at the time that Marc would become a key component in turning the Alibrandis into a dynasty and a treasured Somerville institution, winning 11 Yawkey League championships, including the 2010 title.

Marc has been a three-time MVP and in 2007 he was also named the league’s outstanding pitcher. He’s a four-time championship series MVP and a nine-time gold glove winner at third base. He’s been both a batting champion and thrown a perfect game. We have his stats for the past seven seasons during which he’s hit .386 with a .475 on-base percentage and a .514 slugging percentage. On the mound, he’s had a 0.98 ERA. He strikes out almost 13 hitters per nine innings of work.

Basically, he hits like Ted Williams, he pitches like Roger Clemens and he fields like Brooks Robinson. And you can see him playing every summer over at Trum Field, with the word “Somerville” stitched across the front of his jersey. By any measure, he has been an amazing ballplayer and it has been our good fortune that he’s done it while playing in this city.

These three are perfect examples of what an active and motivated community can achieve. Surely we’ll have more people to honor in the future, but in the meantime I’d like to encourage everyone to get out of the house and play hard.