As a student journalist, I am always searching for controversial stories. Oftentimes, they have the most passionate interviews, get the most views and are the kind of stories that are simply begging to be told. NN and I have never intended to not cover swim and dive; they were just swimming their hearts out. Then, a major splash happened -- no, I will not apologize for that or the upcoming puns.
As you may or may not have read above, a petition was started to get the Eaglecrest pool new diving blocks. Long-story-short: the blocks have been causing the team major adversity and slowing their times. While covering that story, I realized swim and dive does not need some big “story” to make waves for my publication.
When interviewing the girls, they all said eerily similar things. The swim and dive teams truly have formed a connection. This may sound like any ol’ sports team, but in my many years of covering Eaglecrest sports, I have not felt this type of connection within moments of meeting some members.
“This is gonna sound cliche, but we really are a family. I just love getting to know the other girls,” Evelyn Gustin said. “You're with them for so long and so many hours over the season that you just get to know them really well in a way that I don't feel like I get to know other other people. It's really fun.”
During the meet I attended against Mullen, no one was alone. Girls stood in pairs or groups along the sides of the pool for the entire meet. They went to the very edge of the water and yelled at their teammates that they “can breathe later!” This may be an individual sport, but they were always cheering each other on and being as supportive as could be.
“I really enjoy the people. This is my favorite team that I’ve ever been on because we all talk to each other. Lots of teams have a hierarchy, but on this one we don’t,” Manzi Venter said. She has certainly been on a lot of teams. Manzi has been swimming competitively for more than half of her life, but, on her team, that is nothing.
“Altogether, I have been swimming for 12 years. I mainly started for safety. My parents sent me to SafeSplash, and, then, I was just like a fish,” Nalani Fierro said. “So, they were like, 'oh, maybe we should put her in competitive.’ I started out with a very easygoing competitive team. and I just continued from there.” My little brother was coerced into swimming by my parents at a pretty young age too. Apparently, throwing your kids into swim lessons is pretty common.
“My parents kind of just threw me in the swim lessons.” - Jaylin Skaggs
But, swimming is not all sun rays and smiles after the first kiddie lesson. While it is an individual sport, it can be hard to not compare yourself to your teammates -- your times to theirs. Comparing your times to others' is the easy way out. According to the girls, comparing yourself to your times is the only way to grow and stay motivated.
“Swimming is more of a personal thing. You can compare yourself to other people as much as you'd like, but the growth is in your time,” Susan Popp said. “ You can drop five seconds and be super proud of yourself. In the end, it doesn't even matter how many seconds you drop. Anything is still a good goal.”
Dropping seconds is the ultimate accomplishment in swimming -- even if it is just a millisecond. To someone that does not swim, like myself, that seems simple; just move your arms a little bit faster. But, being able to push yourself to your limit is the ultimate challenge in swim.
“Not stopping yourself is the biggest challenge. And when you mentally block yourself from when you know you can do better it is frustrating. I think that is the hardest part -- getting past that,” Fierro said. “In these moments during a race, I tell myself that I'm almost done, that I'm almost at the end.”
Some races last less than a minute, and second place is only a blink behind the winner. How is this not deemed one of the most exciting sports that The Nest has to offer? I am not mad, but only disappointed that the swim teams do not get more support. Like many lesser known sports, the swim teams only want their community to back them more.