Swimmers have to commute to the Queen Anne Pool during their season
Paige Anderson Sports Editor
Originally published January 24th, 2020
(Skye McDonald)
Freshman Leonard Paya swims during a meet against Nathan Hale on Jan. 19 at Evans Pool.
The boys swim team is used to having their morning practice just a few feet away from school, but now that the Ballard Pool is closed for the entire season, the swimmers have been greatly impacted.
The pool has been closed for renovations since Dec. 2 and won’t be open for at least two and a half months. Without the Ballard Pool available, the team has to commute to Queen Anne for practice.
Although it may seem like an easy 15 or so minute drive to Queen Anne instead of Ballard, senior Clayton Seibel shared that those 15 minutes matter and make a difference.
“The pool being closed has definitely affected us,” Seibol said. “It cuts 15 minutes into our practice time every morning since we have to factor in [time for] transportation.”
The team also has had to adapt to sharing the pool with other people and schools while still trying to have eventful and efficient practices.
“A team of 30 with only four or five lanes, can be difficult,” Seibel said. “We usually have about four to six people per lane and we stagger them by speed so it ends up not being that bad.”
The Ballard pool closed just before their season to resurface the deck and redo the liner of the pool.
Upperclassmen, such as senior Rylan Harwood, helped with the transportation issue by driving two to three other swimmers to school. This new adjustment has allowed the team to become closer but issues still arise.
“Those who can’t drive have to carpool,” Harwood said. “Since it’s over double the distance for a lot of us, gas costs are also an issue.”
The team practices in the morning and despite the early morning wake up, there were some positives. Now that they can’t practice at school, those benefits are gone.
“We tend to get to school close to the bell and get parking farther away compared to getting the best parking spots at six a.m. last year,” Harwood said.
History teacher and head swim coach, Kyle Morean, and weight room coach Colin Matthiesen, have made this adjustment easier by ensuring that the team focuses on bettering themselves during practice and weight room.
Even with all the new adjustments, the team continues motivating each other and giving their all throughout the season.