The Oak Park High School swim team started their season ready to take over. With a flurry of incoming players and a surplus of talent, the team was looking forward to their fourth season at OPHS.
“The team’s goals for this season are to start beating our league teams and start winning all of our races,” head coach Calley Prezzano said. “Our goals are always to support each other and have fun, but now we can start getting more competitive because we have an established team.”
That was until a problem arose. With southern California reeling from an outbreak of wildfires and consistent power outages, the team’s pool was rendered unusable. Traditional swim practices weren’t an option anymore, so the team had to get creative.
“Instead of swimming, we did team bonding activities right on the Great Lawn for our teammates to have fun and get to know each other like a scavenger hunt or tasks focused around balloons,” Prezzano said. “Blowing up balloons is a great way to test lung capacity, which is super important for swimmers.”
Eventually, the pool reopened and practices were in full swing. Now that their training had truly started for the season, the team was looking to grow from their weaknesses and capitalize on their strengths.
“Overall, our team needs to get in shape for races. The downside of being a spring sport is that most swimmers have not been actively swimming since over half a year ago,” boys swim captain Jerry Jin said. “Hence, I believe that as soon as we polish out the details, which make up a good part of the sport, everyone will be in amazing condition to race fast.”
Making that improvement takes a lot of work and effort, including during the drills that the team goes through at practices.
“Obviously we do a lot of swimming – we swim for an hour and a half a night – but one thing that we also do is prepare for all of the things that might happen while you’re swimming, like what to do if your goggles come off, how to know what blocks to be behind, and knowing the order of events,” Prezzano said.
A lot of this coaching is directed towards preparing the freshmen of the team, of which there are many.
“We practice kind of a little bit of everything so that our swimmers are prepared for what happens at a meet,” Prezzano said. “Half the team is freshmen this year, so it’s also been helpful having our older swimmers to guide them through that process. We start with fundamentals in our swimming, and then we add speed to that.”
While it has been difficult, new swimmers to the team have been adjusting well, in part due to the supportive culture of the Oak Park swim team.
“Everyone’s helping everyone – in and out of the pool – and I believe that’s the spirit of our swim team and why it is so unique,” Jin said.
In general, the team members like to have fun while they practice to get the most out of their training.
“Our swim team has many strengths, most prominently being the chill, friendly vibe coming from all of our teammates,” Jin said. “It is a very accepting team; it feels like a pool party with your friends, but you get an exercise out of it.”
The OPHS swim team intends to capitalize on this enjoyment to produce the best results possible at a competitive level.
“In terms of improvement from last year, it goes back to what I said earlier about putting our best foot forward to rise to more competitions,” Prezzano said. “Overall though, we’ve got a great support system with all of our teammates, and we’re looking forward to having a lot of fun while we’re competing!”
