To have a good start to their swimming season, some of the swimmers and head swim team coach Lou Williams have established their goals for themselves and for the team.
According to Williams, in previous years the team has been very successful in setting up goals for themselves and being able to achieve those goals.
“As always one of our main goals is to be competitive in our division and to qualify as many swimmers for Districts and States,” Williams said.
Williams is not the only one who has goals for the team.
The swimmers themselves also have goals for the team and what they would like to accomplish.
“As a team I know we’re looking to really set ourselves in the medal position this year,” senior Giancarlo Bocchino said, “which is top eight at States in the relays, which I think we are able to achieve if we really work hard at practice.”
Having goals for the team as a whole also comes with having personal goals for themselves.
According to junior Ryan Christie he thinks that he needs to take training a little more “seriously” because there are “big expectations” for him to win States since he was the best finisher that wasn’t a senior last year.
To achieve their goals, the swim team likes to do team building activities to create a bond with the coaches and their teammates.
“We went to the movies together over Christmas break which was really good and we did team dinners and stuff,” Williams said. “I think continuing on our path of training but also adding fun things outside of the pool would be really good.”
According to Bocchino this sport is not only hard physically, but it is also hard mentally for him and others.
“I would say the hardest thing is probably the mental aspect. You really need to stay committed every day after school for three hours, and in the morning before school,” Bocchino said.
To help with this Williams likes to give the kids free time before each practice after school, from 2:45-3:15 p.m.
“Most kids when they get off from school are just tired and grumpy and whatever,” Williams said, “so just giving them time to hangout with their teammates, eat something and just move around a little bit has worked really well for us.”
According to junior Nate Kleppinger a way that he bonds with his teammates is through their training, which there is a lot of.
“Hanging out with each other, training with each other, getting to know each other and just having a good team atmosphere,” Kleppinger said.
According to Christie, the team just likes to have fun together, especially at practices when it gets repetitive.
“While we’re training we just like to have fun. It can get boring just swimming laps up and down the pool, so we listen to music,” Christie said.
The team likes to lift each other up before meets.
According to Bocchino, they have a team talk before they go out.
“We like to have a little team talk about what our goal times are and what we all need to do individually to set ourselves up for success,” Bocchino said.