Growing up, athletics was a huge part of my life. But, as I got older, I realized that although I still loved swimming, I didn’t want to dedicate 20+ hours per week to training.
At Hopkins, club sports became the perfect fit for me. I joined the club swim team my first semester and fell even more in love with the sport and my teammates than I did in high school. This year, I serve as the president for the swim club, which means I am writing practices and registering our team for meets. I’ve worked with my leadership team (two other captains, a treasurer, and a social media chair) to host social events and bring our team to numerous meets, and hopefully to Nationals later this semester.
The club team provides the perfect balance of fun, motivation, and competition. We compete at about two meets per semester and try to end the school year with a trip to Nationals. We practice three times a week, usually on weekday evenings and one practice over the weekend, with a total of about six hours of training. This was definitely a transition for me from a rigorous training plan in high school, spending more than 20 hours each week in the pool over the course of six practices. But it has served me so well and given me the chance to focus on academics and other extracurriculars while remaining consistent in the pool.
The pool on campus, which, by the way, is newly renovated with new lights and blocks, is located in our Rec Center and is generally open for a few hours each day. Since we do not have a coach, leading practices is the responsibility of the three captains. One of my favorite things about this club is that we do not host tryouts. We try to emphasize a welcoming environment and see swimmers at varying levels join practices when they can. Another perk is that we rely on club athletics funding and therefore do not have any entry fees associated! To allow our team to travel to meets, we sell merch each year to fundraise for our team.
As someone who enjoys competition, meet days are absolutely a highlight of the season for me. I love the thrill of diving into a pool and competing against swimmers from other colleges in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) area. This year, we traveled to University of Maryland, American University, and Rutgers University, which are all within a two-hour drive. What makes meet days even more fun for me is that we always start the day with a team breakfast at THB, a local Baltimore bagel shop, before piling into cars to travel to a different university. For our Rutgers meet this year, we decided to take a road trip to New Jersey. Somehow, we made the three-hour trip twice in one day and raced super well as a team too!
Although races may be my favorite aspect of being involved in swimming, this team has shown me so many things outside of competition. We have swimmers from all different walks of life. Some are grad students, some are undergraduates, some grew up a few miles away from campus, and some are international students. Yet, we are all brought together by our shared love of splashing about. It genuinely brings me so much joy to walk to the Rec Center a few times each week and get to spend some time with friends in the pool. Seeing the passion they have for incorporating swimming into their life motivates me to do the same.
What’s super fun about going to the same school as your teammates is that we randomly run into each other throughout our days. Not only do I get to know them in the pool like I did in high school, but college club sports have also given me the opportunity to get to know them in contexts outside of athletics. We go to dinner, host parties for the team, and spontaneously study together when we run into each other. This team has given me a social circle that brings me so much motivation, joy, and love for those around me.
The time I spend each week with my team is easily a highlight, and I can’t wait until the next practice.
See you on deck!