BUTLER TWP — Age 10 is a bit young to be building a legacy, but David Bocci is picking a good place to start.

While swimming for the Butler YMCA team in a recent meet, Bocci broke the program’s 32-year-old record in the 100-yard freestyle for the 9-10 age group. The mark of one minute, three seconds was held by two-time Olympic silver medalist Eric Namesnik.

Bocci — son of Butler High School varsity swim coach Dave Bocci —swam the event in 1:02.93.

“The scary thing is David’s on the young end of this age group,” said Tim O’Toole, his age division coach. “He’s going to own all of the records by the end of next year.

“I’ve been coaching swimming for 16 years and he’s the best little boy I’ve ever coached. His upside is tremendous.”

O’Toole is the father of record-breaking Butler senior swimmer Stephanie O’Toole.

Namesnik still owns the YMCA records of 1:09.20 in the 100-yard individual medley and 32.50 seconds in the 50-yard backstroke. He set both marks in 1981.

Bocci is at 1:12 in the 100 IM and 34.38 seconds in the 50 back with a year to go.

“Both of those records are going to fall,” O’Toole said.

Butler swim coach Bocci said his son has a lot of advantages.

“He has an outstanding coach in Tim and because I coach the high school team, he has plenty of access to the pool,” Coach Bocci said. “David already has a tremendous work ethic. He loves to go to the pool.

“He really enjoys hissport and he’s very competitive with it.”

Bocci referred to Namesnik as “one of the top 100 swimmers to walk the face of the earth.”

“Watching our son break a record held by him is a great honor,” he said. “It means a lot to us, but David still has a long way to go.”

Butler Y swim coach Alex Fertelmes anticipates more record-breakling performances from Bocci.

“He’s got the natural ability to go with the motivation,” Fertelmes said. “He’s ahead of the game in terms of fundamentals because his father coaches swimming.

“David broke a bunch of records here as an 8-under swimmer. I can see him continuing that trend.”

How his body develops may determine Bocci’s future success in the water.

“We don’t know how tall he’s going to get, things like that,” O’Toole said. “Eric Namesnik was not a very tall guy.

“Still, David dropped 10 seconds off his times from last year and he dropped six or seven seconds off his 100 butterfly time last weekend. He does all of the strokes solidly. He really has no weak event.

“For someone at such a young age, he works very hard, takes direction extremely well and he wants to get better,” O’Toole added.

While O’Toole coaches Bocci’s son, Bocci coaches O’Toole’s daughter on the high school team.

“It’s a unique situation, but very enjoyable,” Bocci said. “I’m grateful Tim is coaching my son. He’s doing a great job.”