Today was the swim team's end of the year banquet. It is always a nice event. Banquet serves as a way to end one season while getting ready for the next.
Since this was my last banquet I have decide to write down some of my Valpo swimming story.
Senior Year of High School
As a senior in high school I faced many potentially life altering decisions; Which college to attend, What to study, To swim or not to swim, etc. Most of these decisions were helped along by visiting campuses, meeting with faculty, students and athletes. I decided on 5 schools to apply to, and by January, I had narrowed it down to two.
I knew I was going to study some sort of engineering and that I wanted to swim. Now it was time for recruiting trips. I had my first recruiting trip to Butler University. I loved the school, and liked the team. I knew I was going to go to Butler. Until I visited Valpo. I found the team at Valpo to be so open and welcoming. These were the people I wanted to spend the next four years with. I choose Valpo, and I have not looked back.
Freshman Year
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| Freshman girls, 2009 |
The upperclassmen were so nice. The very first weekend of school, some of the older boys on the team invited us to go out with them. We were thrilled to already be part of the team
As a group of freshmen we went on a scavenger hunt, and got little fishies to take care of. We made posters for the older girls and went out to parties together.
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| Super-fanning the volleyball game |
The older girls were so much fun. With them we super-fanned a volleyball game, painted t-shirts to cheer for a high school girl's basketball team at the annual national tournament hosted at Valpo. As a freshman I always felt like I was part of the group and part of the team.
Then we got to the pool. The coach was relatively new, we were his first recruiting class. Practices were not as hard as I expected them to be the first week, but way harder than I had expected the second, third, and fourth.
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| Some of the team just outside the airport in El Salvador |
I worked harder in the pool that year than I had at any other point in my swimming career. By the time our mid-season meet came around, I was ready to go. I swam almost as fast as I had in high school, that was a good sign of better things to come when conference came around.
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| Most the team at the pool after the inter-squad meet. |
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| Pink Team |
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| Freshman girls at Conference |
At the end of the week we had an intersquad meet. Pink team vs. Black team. Pink team won, but neither side was as strong as they could have been due to the bug.
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| Girl's team at banquet |
About a month and a half later, we had banquet. Before banquet we vote for awards. The team awards MVP, Spirit, Workhorse and Most improved and also elects captains. I was immensely surprised and honored to find out that I had been awarded the Workhorse Award for the women's team.
That year we graduated 7 seniors, six girls and one guy. The amazing leadership, confidence and treatment of others that these ladies and guy showed me during my freshman year has inspired me ever since.
Sophomore Year
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| The returning team sophomore year |
Sophomore year was a change for me, I was no longer the youngest, there were new freshmen. I had to get used to not being in the spotlight as much. I had gotten used to being in the faster portion of the team as a freshman, but these new freshmen were way faster than me.
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| Training trip sophomore year |
This year I was living in a quad with the team manager, one teammate and one of her friends. As the year progressed, my teammate and the team manager joined sororities, and the third decided by December that she was not going to continue at Valpo.
My first roommate, who had also been a teammate, had decided to leave Valpo after freshman year, so our sophomore class consisted of three girls, the manager, the four original boys plus a transfer from California State University at Northridge. I was excited to meet the transfer because he was a butterflier. My fellow butterfliers had graduated the previous year and I was eager for someone else to train with.
The team also got two other transfers, both juniors; a girl from IUPUI and another boy from California State University at Northridge.
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| Girl's team, training trip sophomore year |
The ten new freshman were very different from my class, and the team atmosphere was beginning to change. Not for better or for worse, but just changing, as it did every year after.
This year was similar to the previous. I did not swim as well as I wanted to at mid-season, and training trip was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida instead of Costa Rica. Practices were just as hard, I was training more distance and a lot more fly.
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| Graduating two of my loves |
I really wanted to be on the medley relay at conference, so I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to swim fast and be the best. I also realized at that point that the team only had one junior, the transfer, and three sophomores, so I had a real chance of becoming captain the next year. I put a lot of pressure on my self about that too. I wanted to be a good leader, a good role model, a good teammate. I wanted to do it all right.
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| Grads plus some |
By the time conference rolled around sophomore year, I was a wreck. I was stressed because I was not doing as well as I wanted in the pool, and that was effecting me outside of the pool. Classes were harder, social life was harder. I was trying to balance everything, but not doing so well. Conference that year was hard for me. I did not make the relay. I swam well in the 100 fly, but it was not as well as I wanted to swim because I did not make the relay. I ended up time-trialing the 100 fly later in the meet, so that I could be content with my swim.
I was very lucky to be close with some of the senior girls this year. They helped me through some of the rougher moments and are still very dear friends to me.
Somehow despite all my stress and mess, at banquet the team elected me captain. We graduated six seniors that year, four girls and two boys. From them I learned the value of close friends, and people you don't get along with, the importance of being true to yourself and I started to learn not to take what other people think to heart.
Junior Year
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| The girls team at camping trip junior year |
This year began both fun and stressful. I was captain now, there came certain role and expectations with that position. I was determined to be the best captain I could be.
This year I was rooming with another swimmer. Some how she was roommate number 7 at Valpo. I was also determined to make this roommate relationship last the year. I tried hard to make it successful.
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| Halloween junior year |
One of my classmates-teammates was in New Zealand for the fall semester. The other girl in our class on the team decided that she needed to take some time off swimming so that she could focus on academics. Two of the boys in our class transferred. So, at least of first semester, we were left with me on the girls side and three on the guys side.
This year we had crazy amounts of new freshmen join the team. 16 to be exact. And all sixteen of them made it to the end of the season. Things started out well at the beginning of the year, we were all getting along. I was getting really close to one of the freshmen. Then something happened and I felt like I could not connect with any of them. Sure they were nice at the pool, and we could get
along, but every interaction with them felt forced and robotic. There was none of the easy flow of conversation or sharing of secrets. I was on the outside a lot. And I still don't know why.
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| Me and roommate #7 at training trip |
along, but every interaction with them felt forced and robotic. There was none of the easy flow of conversation or sharing of secrets. I was on the outside a lot. And I still don't know why.
I also was having trouble with my co-captains. I would suggest doing something and they would ignore me, or do it entirely without me. I felt like I could never win.
My swimming this year struggled. Because of the I felt like I was on the outside, because classes were way harder, because I was committed to other organizations outside of swimming, because of a lot of things, my swimming was not what I wanted it to be.
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| Juniors, junior year |
Mid-season meet was again ok, but nothing spectacular One of the freshmen broke the 200 fly record that I had been trying for since my freshman year. I was heartbroken. I had worked so hard, I had trained so hard, and she just came in and broke it. I know that's how things work, but it was so disappointing to me.
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| The whole team at banquet sophomore year |
Training trip was in Fort Lauderdale again. We trained hard again. I had gotten a cold over Christmas break and it turned into bronchitis during training trip. I had to spend a few practices out of the water while I got over it.
When conference came around, I was still trying for that medley relay spot. Unfortunately, the day of the race, I was not the fastest 100 buttflier. I did not get to swim it. My other races were again ok, but again not spectacular.
Banquet this year was especially stressful. I knew there was a chance that I would not be elected captain for the next year. I did not know how I would react. It turns out that my team believed that there were better leadership options for the team as a whole. I was not reelected. I composed myself for pictures then headed out to figure out how I felt about it.
That year we graduated five seniors, one girl and four guys. It is amazing the things that I have learned from teammates and this year was no exception. I learned not to care so much, that sometimes it is ok to break the rule and many other things that I cannot exactly name.
Senior Year
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| The team senior year |
Not being captain turned out to be a good thing. Sure there are things I would have done better the second time around but it also meant that senior year could be for me. And that is exactly what happened. Senior year I decided it was time to swim for myself, not for my coach, not for my team, not for a spot on a relay, just for me.
My class had dwindled down to four. On the girls side I was alone, on the guys side there were three. All of us were four year swimmers. Three of us were four year Valpo swimmers and, fun fact, none of the three of us had gotten sick in Costa Rica.
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| Finally Seniors!! |
We had 16 new freshmen start the season and 14 of them finished it. I was finally able to connect with some of these freshmen. Especially the girls. Over the season I got to be very close with most the freshmen girls. A couple of the girls were even studying engineering which was a huge plus for me.
This year was so much nicer. Classes weren't as hard, I was bonding with the freshmen, I didn't have the stress of "next year" hanging over my head (at least in terms of swimming). I was just swimming. And it was beautiful.
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| Swimming for the joy of it |
Finally, my fly did not feel awkward, I was dropping time. Things were working for me. I was happy to be in the water again. I had one teammate who was very close to my times in the 100 fly. We raced in practice and at almost every meet. She was faster than me for a 50, but I could usually catch her by the 100. She was great competition. At the mid-season meet I swam a collegiate best time in the individual 100 fly. In the relay, I actually broke a minute in the 100 fly. A feat I had not been able to do since high school.
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| Me and a couple freshmen at training trip |
Training trip was again in Fort Lauderdale, again it was the hardest training of my life, but this year I was not sick. I was actually able to swim every practice and I swam more fly that week than I had ever before in my life.
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| Butterfly Babes senior year |
Conference was at the end of February. Because of my times at mid-season I was on the medley relay. Finally I would get to swim fly in the relay. Not only did I get to swim the relay, I also managed to make it into the consolation finals of the 100 fly. I had not made finals in any event since my freshman year. By making finals, I got to swim the 100 fly three times. All three swims were under a minute. I swam the 200 fly on the last day and a 200 fly has never felt so good. I was strong enough to swim it and not hurt more than necessary. When I was swimming it, I knew it was my last race in college. I literally just enjoyed it. Somewhere in the middle of it I smiled. People don't smile when they swim the 200 fly. But I did. I loved that swim. It was a great way to end my college swimming.
Of course the season is not quite over with conference. We still had banquet. I was excited to see who would win the awards and who would be elected captain. I was completely shocked when coach called out my name as a tie for women's team spirit award. Shocked and honored. I feel so very honored that my team voted for me for that award.
The Future
While college swimming is over, my life-time love of the sport is not. I don't know where my swimming will go from here, but I do know that I am not done and this is not the end.
I have not by any means compiled all the stories from my four years at Valpo on this page, but these are some and they are my story.
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