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Club swim team splashes into spring season, makes enjoyment a priority |
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Thursday, 21 February 2008 |
 The club swim team practices Monday-Thursday from 5 - 8 p.m. File Photo
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by ASHLEY DAVIS
Sports Reporter
Picture a swim team practicing on land.
Until a year ago, the Appalachian State University club swim team had no pool to practice in and was forced to do just that.
“[Land practices] were a great way to get to know a few people from the team,” said sophomore Treasurer Jenna L. Rundhammer, a hospitality and tourism management major. “In practices in the pool, it’s kind of hard to talk when you [are] working out.”
Since
the addition of a pool, practices are easier for the team but achieving
a high level of dedication among all of the team members still proves
elusive.
The club is not part of an association that has a tournament or
championship at the end of the season, Rundhammer said, so the team’s
focus lends more to enjoyment than competition.
Being a part of an association would require the team to go to a
sanctioned meet, and would also require more money than the team
believes it is worth, Rundhammer said.
“Because of this there isn’t always a strong level of competition,”
Rundhammer said. “We always want to do well when we go to a meet, but
everything we do is mostly for fun.”
The team has not had a swim meet since November against Elon
University, where they performed well but had less team members
participate than they had hoped for.
“It all depends on who is willing to work hard in the practice,”
Rundhammer said. “During the swim meets it was obvious who comes to
practice because their times continue to improve.”
Practices are held for the team six times a week, with two morning
practices and four evening practices as opportunities. Swimmers may
attend as many as they like; typically, most swimmers practice in three
to four, said senior vice president Brian Post, a secondary history
education major.
This weekend the team will begin its spring schedule when it travels to the University of Virginia.
“We want to do well in Virginia,” Post said. “Right now our focus is really on the home meet that comes after it though.”
The team will host its only home meet of the year March 1.
Presently, the only definite team that will compete against the
Mountaineers is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
however; the team is still working to have more schools participate.
With a meet taking place in Boone, the team hopes that more athletes
and spectators will take part and help boost the team’s performance.
“We always have a large number of people who sign up at Club Expo and
are officially on the team,” Rundhammer said. “But we have a very
limited number that actually come to practice or swim meets…One of our
goals this semester is to see if we can find some incentive to keep
people interested.”
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