WolfPack Diving Into The New Season
February 17, 2023
Senior, Maximus Lobos and Junior Audrey Martinez are returners for the Varsity, Wolfpack swim team. Lobos has been on the team for two years but has been swimming since he was a kid. “ My parents put me in it just, so I can learn and then I just thought it was hard so I liked it, I thought it was challenging”, states Lobos. Part of the hardest challenges Lobos faces in swimming is actually starting, In his case, conditioning. Swimming long distances non-stop can be very hard to push through and keep doing. Not only is it this challenge that swimmers must face but the mental challenges that come in the water as well.
Junior, Audrey Martinez has now been on varsity for three years and agrees with how challenging the mental aspects of swimming can be. “ It’s just being able to push through the conditioning and telling yourself that you can do it and not to give up”. Martinez has always found enjoyment in swimming since she was younger, whether or not it was competitively or in her own swimming pool she knew doing it competitively would only increase her passion for the sport.
Both swimmers, Martinez and Lobos have in common, finding an interest in their sport at a young age. Although there are lessons that these swimmers hope for new incoming swimmers to learn this year. “ There are a lot of new swimmers this year and the main thing I would want them to learn is how to just really enjoy the sport you’re playing and not really beat yourself up on it, just enjoy it ”, states Lobos. “ We do have quite a bit of new swimmers and I want them to learn that it is going to be hard because swimming is a really hard sport, but at the end of the day and at the end of our season it’s so worth it to be able to see the progress that you made as a competitive swimmer.”
Coaching the swim team for a third time this year is Colby Webb. Webb himself participated in swim when he was in High School and College and thinks of it as a fun sport that can be individually challenging as well as have one bond with an entire team to acquire that same companionship. “ I started swimming when I was a sophomore and it was because a friend of mine convinced me to join and I wasn’t convinced. I was like “ this is kind of a strange sport” and then I just came out and ended up loving it because of all the reasons I explained before so it was just a friend of mine that was a swimmer that convinced me to come out .” Webb has big goals set for not just his whole team in general but individual swimmers as well. Whether it be getting them to achieve Valley times or being able to compete skilfully in their division.