The early bird gets the worm.
Waking up at 3 am to dive into a pool that has temperatures approaching artic levels doesn’t sound like much fun so maybe… you should just swim for the high school team instead.
“I enjoy high school meets because of the spirit and atmosphere. It’s cool to swim other schools in the meets too,” said junior captain Connor MacKinnon, “but I like club swim [for] the improvement and [the fact that] more colleges look at you.”
Just like other sports most athletes play on some sort of club or travel team to keep them in shape while the sport is out of season at WS and this holds true with the swimmers at WS. The difference between club and school swim is a big one. High school swim is normally more laid back and more of a team sport than its extremely completive counterpart.
“The coaches [in the two] are different for one, it depends on the club and how they set up their practices, but HS practice reminds me of summer swim and everyone is more supportive,” said freshman Lane Stone.
Those who swim for both the WS team and a club team, like shark tank, SDS or Curl Burke, would say that the biggest variation is the amount of backing you receive from the people around you. After you make the HS team there is still competition but, as long as you go to practice, there is little chance you will get kicked off the team and everyone swims at least one event in every meet. In club swim, thou, there is more of a challenging atmosphere.
“I do both [high school and club] because I love the vibe on the high school; it’s more of a team sport than an individual [one] and it’s nice to be a part of a bigger whole,” said junior Christian Stevens, “club is more individual and more competitive and you do it for yourself.”