Diving into the Aurora Swim Team

(Instagram: ahs.girls.swimming)

With the arrival of winter, the season has just begun for many winter sports. The Aurora High School Swimming and Diving team has recently tackled the Suburban League. The Aurora Girl's Swimming and Diving team has won the Suburban League for the past four years (2023, 2022, 2021, 2020).

Swimming is a very challenging sport and requires stamina, speed, strength, and agility. Swimming World Magazine states, “The biggest and most obvious factor to consider in swimming is the water. Water is much denser than air, so there is much more resistance preventing people from being able to move through it quickly and freely. This makes it so much more difficult compared to other land sports.” Swimming and diving require constant training on land and in water. It can take months of persistent training for swimmers to cut down their time by even 1/10th of a second.

“In the fall I play tennis to get in shape for the upcoming winter season, which in my opinion, and most others, is the most important season for swimming. I know that others on the swim team participate in swimming leagues year-round or other sports, most notably track and field,” says freshman Julia Stockdale who has just started swimming for the high school team.

Many swimmers don't have an off-season and are preparing all year round for the swim season. When joining the swimming/diving team you get more than a team, you get long-lasting friendships and positive memories. With all of the late-night practices at Hiram, and the bus rides home, team members are bound to be very close-knit. A senior on the swim team, Alexandra Yuhaz, says "I like just being in the water and the feeling when you're racing and having a good swim because you feel good about yourself.”

(Instagram: ahs.girls.swimming)

Julia states, “One swimmer, Colby, always has a smile on his face and doesn't let the hard practices get him down. Even outside of practice, he always says hi with his familiar smile. Every Saturday we have a team breakfast after our 7:30 practice. The food is always delicious and everyone gathers around the tables, not allowing for a moment of silence as we talk about how our coach is torturing us and our plans for the rest of the weekend which is almost halfway over.”

This is a feeling felt by many team members. Aubrey Kennedy, a diver on the team, says, “Everyone on the team is so kind and welcoming and I also love and cherish our team's sense of humor.”

The amount of meets varies from week to week. There are some weeks where the team has as many as 3, and others where they only have 1. The nights before meets, the swim team has easier practices to ensure that no one will be burnt out for the competition the next day. The atmosphere of the pool deck tends to differ from the atmosphere during practices. There is much more excitement and nervousness. Regardless of this, everyone gets congratulated on their events, even if they aren't familiar with each other. The players love cheering for and being supportive of each other. At home meets, the pool is measured in meters rather than yards making the pool longer than other pools that the team competes at. This gives our team an advantage since other teams aren't trained to swim longer than the standard distance.

Each day the team swims 3-4 miles collectively and some days they have to focus on a specific stroke/technique. High school swimming can be hard for freshmen because the competition is at a much higher level than most are used to. Aurora coaches have recently started designating certain lanes to specific events. For example, there will be lanes testing speed and endurance by requiring swimmers to swim 50s and 100s in timed intervals. Swimmers are also required to work on all of the strokes on days referred to as IM days. While this is beneficial to swimmers because they can work on their strokes in preparation for the next meet, swimming butterfly multiple times for extended periods can be challenging.

(Instagram: ahs.girls.swimming)

Julia states, “But I do have to admit that my first high school season has not been as enjoyable as others. Sure there are great people and the time spent not swimming is fun, but the actual swim part of the swim team isn't as great. I knew that the high school competition level was much higher than what I was used to when I signed up. I guess what has kept me from quitting all season is the challenge and the amount of time that I've put into the sport.” Julia as well as Alexandra started swimming around age 6, so they have dedicated years and countless hours to their sport as well as many others on the team have.

Make sure to support our Aurora High School swimming and diving team by coming to meets to cheer them on while they face other schools!

Check out their schedule here!

By: Charlotte Varkala