I swam in high school. My team was intense. 30 boys, 29 years in a row conquering the Philadelphia Catholic League Championships, 12 time District 12 Champions, three time Pennsylvania State Champions, National Champions.
Now, I swim in college. My new team, preparing and training to clench its first Appalachian Mountain Chain Conference Championship. Even though our team is still growing, a change in conference and a few new freshmen may lead us to bringing home the first Atlantic East Conference Champs, which would also be the first men’s team swimming championship in school history.
My high school team was extremely exclusive. Only seven of the best swimmers out of the 300 or more freshman make the cut. I was number seven. From day one I have been fighting for my position so I could prove myself to make sure I belonged on that team. The coaches did not make it easy either.
On the first day of practice my freshman year of high school, the coach comes to me and says loudly enough for the rest of the team to hear, “I’m going to chew you up and spit you out!” I promised myself that I would never give him the satisfaction of defeating me. Every practice I showed up, I worked my tail end off, and what did I get out of it?
With determination to strive for personal excellence, I challenge myself in every aspect of my life. I live repeating those words over and over in my head so that I will never lower myself to what this coach thought of me as the slowest and smallest freshman.
I ended up being on the B-squad for everything. Never racing in the best relay. Never in that middle lane where all the real racing happened. I was never able to make it to that level of excellence but I knew that my coach never thought I would be competing with some of the best swimmers on the team.
I knew what I was getting into at Cabrini. Comparing my times to the record board and I saw the stardom coming my way. However, I got smacked in the face with a reality check. Someone will always be better than you.
The start of the season I had strongly believed that I was going to be the fastest on the team. What I had forgotten was that so did about four other people.
In years past, my thought process was to assert my dominance. As the season continued, however, I came to realize that my philosophy was not the only path to success. I was showed other methods.
Cabrini University has a co-ed swim team, something I have not experienced before. The whole dynamic of a team, when its not all testosterone, is completely different. Intensity and perspective change drastically. The girls on the team add a new perspective and attitude to the sport that I had not been used too. On an all-boys team in high school, there was very little cheering for each other. The only investment that we had for each other was to make sure that you were always better than everyone else.
Here at Cabrini, there are no cuts on the swim team. The team has already accepted a swimmer who has never swam before and is prepared to accept another new swimmer. Compared to my high school team, Cabrini’s swim team is a much more accepting team of the people joining. While trying to be the best, the swimmers want to see the best out of each other through support instead of competition. I have witnessed upperclassmen trying to help teach the new swimmers more efficient ways to swim and dive.
In college, I was showed that brute force and power will not make you successful. It is through the people that you meet, the friends you make and the support that you surround yourself with that will get yourself through the toughest times.
So yeah, I swam. I went through four years of bloodthirsty competition. With three more years of swimming left, I will continue to bring that merciless attitude to be the best but I will also bring this newfound sense of support for others and team pride to that “final finish.”
