Athletics Spotlight

Arman Boff, Class of 2020

Joining as a senior, though I haven’t been here for the past 3 years, I’d like to think to be a part of the RHS swim team is like being a part of a close community with in our school. We usually have practice at 8-9 at night at PCTI's athletic center. Our coaches, Gary Bach, Caitlyn Bach, and Coach Emily didn’t write me off when they heard I was a senior and doing swim to prepare myself better for the baseball season. The first week was extremely different and challenging to get through, but as I got adjusted and adapted to the practices and made more friends throughout the team, I began not to think of it as a practice, instead more as of a way to chill with friends and have a few laughs and jokes in practice. Without a doubt RHS swim has impacted to me to strive to become better, every meet I try to beat my previous time. During the practices between meets, I reflect on how I can improve and how I can achieve my goals. Since baseball season is just around the corner, I want to empathically say it has prepared me for the upcoming spring.

Emma Kunz, Class of 2020

Similarly to Arman, I initially joined swimming as a way to keep in shape before the upcoming spring lacrosse season. Over the past three years, our team has had quite a few coaching changes. While each coach helped our team improve over the years tremendously, coaches Gary, Kaitlyn, and Emily have done a tremendous job of making the team atmosphere feel like a second home. As Arman mentioned, both teams practice together at Passaic Technical County Institute (PCTI) from 8-9pm. However, it typically takes 45 minutes by bus to get to PCTI, or an hour and a half to get to and from the pool each night. Because of this, I leave home around 7pm to get to the bus and pull back into my driveway just before 10pm each night of practice- and meet nights can take up even more time! Bus rides are a great time to catch up with my teammates and coaches each night, and are often filled with chatter and laughter. No matter how hard the practice or how intense the meet, our team does a great job of creating a hardworking and supportive environment with lots of funny and memorable moments always included as well. Knowing that my teammates always push themselves to the best of their abilities inspires me to keep working hard and stay determined in pool. Our coaches compliment this contagious team attitude seamlessly. During our time in the pool, they are constantly pushing us towards our best performance while encouraging us every step of the way.

Throughout this year, I’ve seen so many of our swimmers step up in big ways and become leaders for others at important times throughout the season, specifically many of the senior boys. Our boys’ team is smaller than most teams, so everyone has to swim four events, every event- it’s hard work! Seniors Alex Morfit, Michael and Nicholas Minetti, Arman Boff, and Jason Yusko do a great job keeping everyone motivated and ready to tackle the next event. Similar things can be said for the girls team- senior captains Sarah Lyou, Sarah Bernstein, and Lauren Murphy set the bar high for perfect practice attendance records and contagious smiles at every meet. Many times if a swimmer is having a tough day, they’ll leave the pool with a smile on their face.

Over the past three years, swimming has taught me many different lessons that have helped me to grow into the person I am today. Most importantly, it allowed me to put myself in a vulnerable position and try something new. I still remember the jitters I had the bus ride before my first ever practice- I hadn’t realized that I was supposed to wear a one piece bathing suit until a few minutes beforehand! The supportive environment of our team has allowed me to look back, laugh at my mistakes, push past my failures, and celebrate my successes as they come. I’ve also learned to better embrace the discomfort that comes with unfamiliarity. Additionally, I’ve learned to be a constructive and supportive leader. Coming in as a timid sophomore, above all, I admired the work ethic of our senior captains and appreciated the way that many of the girls took me under their wing during the first few practices. When I was chosen to be a captain this year, I was really excited but also a little nervous about my abilities to maintain the high standards that the previous captains had set. As the season’s gone by, though, I’ve become much more confident in my communication skills and decision making.