We come to the end of a successful day and the last one of the year. Middle and upper distance began their morning with a lift while sprint group headed to the pool for some dryland activities before the swim practice.
By 9:30 am it was sunny and beautiful. We split up into our three groups (distance, middle, and sprint) for the swim and got some good aerobic work done.
After the morning practice ended we were all quick to jump out of our practice suits and into our beach-ware. By the time we got out to the beach the sun was high in the sky and the water was tolerable, the temperature definitely didn’t stop any of the boys (and a lot of the girls) from going out to catch some waves. The beach was crowded and we were a force out there, making quite the impression on other beach goers with our large group. We got to spend the entire afternoon out on the beach (or at the pool as some chose) and didn’t need to reconvene for night practice until 5:30.
For most of our practices throughout the year we are split into our three training groups, but tonight’s practice we joined together as one team for a speed set from the blocks. Middle distance and sprint group swam an all out 100 meters from the blocks six times, while the distance group did a similar set with longer distances (obviously.)
The coaches were happy with our overall performance and the energy throughout the team was positive and encouraging. Something we pride ourselves on at Maryland is the fact that we are behind each other 100%. When we are going through tough sets together this camaraderie is apparent to everyone around.
After practice we headed back to the hotel to celebrate the start of a new year! We had pizza outside at the hotel pool and then continued our team bonding by having separate girls and guy’s team meetings out on the beach.
This was a good time for the upperclassmen to talk to the team about the next couple months and prepare the freshman for what to expect as our championship season begins. I’m not going to reveal everything we discussed, but the long and short of it is that we are a strong team. They stressed the fact that as we prepare for ACC’s and NCAA’s it’s important to make the little things count; every turn, every start matters.
As I’m sitting here writing this the New Year is about to begin. As a junior I’ve been here from the beginning with our head coach Sean and I’ve seen the progress this team has made in the short time he’s been here. I am so confident that this New Year is only going to bring bigger and better things for Maryland swimming and diving. There is something to be said about a team that is constantly striving to do things they’ve never done before, and that’s exactly what we plan to do this year and in the years to come.
So, Happy New Year! Thank you for your support over the past year and we hope we made you proud.
