At 4:30 a.m., the alarm rings. Staring at the dark silhouette of snow settling on branches, JJ Fishman ’30 dreads over the two hours morning practice ahead of her. After finishing 4000 yards of swimming, her damp hair froze in the early morning wind. Ahead of her is 75 more minutes of Masters swim practice in the afternoon.
This is what a day looks like for club swimmers on the varsity girls swimming team. Club swimming is a yearlong sport, practicing four to five times a week; many club teams focus on long yardage, with practices lasting over two hours. This amount of physical training “is a lot of strain on their body”, as head coach Cortney Grant describes it.
From the student perspective, balancing club and school teams demands a big time commitment.
“It’s a lot less time to do homework. On days that I do have a free, I try to get as much homework as I can done. It also puts kind of a strain on me hanging out with my friends,” club swimmer Gabbie Graham ‘28 said.
This heavy workload prompted many swimmers to quit one of the two teams. However, senior captain Annadele Dyott took on the challenge of balancing the two teams for all four years of high school. The Masters swim team reminds Dyott of her passion for swimming.
“I’ve wanted to stay on Masters because it brings an excitement and an aspect of fun that you kind of lose when you swim on a club team. [Club swimming] is a lot more focused on only bettering yourself.” Dyott said, “When I’m at a club meet, I’m thinking only about, ‘Oh, I really don’t want to swim this, what if I add time?’ And it kind of takes away from the actual act of swimming.”
Fishman ’30 highlights the enjoyment of socializing on the Masters team.
“I thought it’d be pretty helpful [to have more practice chances], and also another way to expand friends,”Fishman said.
The Masters team reciprocates club swimmers’ fondness for the school team. Their outstanding performance scores points for the team by placing in swim meets. For instance, Fishman broke two school records and scored 12 of the 68 points in the meet on Dec 11.
Nevertheless, club swimmers’ positive impact extends well beyond points at swim meets. “[With club swimmers] your non-experienced swimmers, or swimmers that don’t have that opportunity to [go to] swim club, now they can see the proper way to do strokes, the proper way to turn.” Grant said, “So you can use your club swimmers to help your non-experienced swimmers become better, and it also inspires them to get better, get faster,”
The athletic department allows flexible team obligations to help club swimmers balance two teams. They are required to participate in every meet, but only obligated to attend two team events per week.
Dyott offered advice for younger swimmers amid athletic stress.
She said, “You need to find what works for you at the end of the day. You’re supposed to love the sport.”
