It has recently been brought to my attention that the swim team hates their diving blocks, among other issues with the Eaglecrest pools. Many, many people sent me the link to the online petition (see below) that chronicles it all -- apparently, it has become my brand to cover “these” things.

I have always just assumed that the swim team was only good vibes and chlorine bleached hair. This was so beyond wrong. Not only are they passionate about their sport and supportive of their teammates, they also know how to advocate for themselves in times of need.

“Everyone could probably show you their battle scars from the blocks.” - Abigail Goodwin

The driving blocks that the team uses day in and out have never been updated since the school has opened. The swimmers get bruises and scratches from the worn out metal. Beyond physical injuries, their performance is directly impacted by the outdated blocks.

“I have permanent bruises on my knees from getting up on the blocks. They are too high, Hadley Phipps said. “At the last meet I dove in for a relay, and my goggles came off. I’m constantly slipping on starts so it messes it the whole race up.” When goggles fly off, there is no turning back to put them back on. When a foot slips, there is no restarting to get a good dive.

“They have been a challenge mainly just because of how old they are. The thing that makes you better is dropping seconds and then we have a piece of equipment that makes it harder,” Nalani Fierro said. “Maybe one time you have a really good start. And another time, your foot slips and that's two or three seconds that just got added from that one mess up.”

As Fierro said, this piece of equipment can make or break your race. Eaglecrest’s community should want all of their athletes to have the best equipment possible in order to perform their very best. Manzi Venter and Kaylee Barnett really started the push for better blocks after years of conversations among teammates.

“We’ve been complaining about the blocks for a long time. I remember the seniors complaining about how old and terrible the blocks are during my freshman year,” Barnett said. “It's been a problem for so long, but we haven’t really known how to fight for it until this year when Manzi and I just started asking around about who to talk to.”

They decided not to just talk like the teams before them. After going in circles with their coaches and people in the building they thought could help them, they took matters into their own hands. Venter posted the petition to prove that the swim community is standing behind them.

“We started the petition so that we could just show that there is support. There is a reason to help us. We even had a person from another school see it and comment that her team dreads racing at our pool [because of the blocks],” Venter said. They are now starting fundraising along with additional support from the school to update more basic equipment needs. New blocks will hopefully make the team stronger than ever.

"New blocks would make us feel more comfortable. I know a lot of girls are scared to even go off of the blocks because of how small and weird looking they are. But new blocks would change everything,” Jaylin Skaggs said. “Really nice ones are huge, and they have bars on the sides. There is a platform on the back of your foot so you can push off to get more momentum.” Hopefully, this change will happen in the near future for a more than deserving team.