On Tuesday January 12, the McCaskey swim team had our first meet of the season. As a freshman and a beginner in the sport, I was nervous. The idea of being on a swim team never crossed my mind until I was convinced to join, but it has been a truly great experience.

Because this is my first year on the swim team, I have no idea what a normal, non-COVID- 19 swim season looks like. There are procedures that everyone is asked to follow in order to keep ourselves safe due to the pandemic. Being on a sports team and playing a sport is no different. At meets and during practice we have to wear our masks until we are ready to get in the pool for our specific race or practice. Once we’re done with our race or practice, our masks go right back on and we leave the pool deck to go back to our spots where we are all spread out. At meets we all wear our masks till we are ready at the block to start our race. 

The size of our team makes it impossible to all practice together at the McCaskey pool, which only has four lanes. It does have a good size pool deck, however, where we do our dryland workouts, store our bags, and can be socially distanced while not in the pool. When we can’t all practice together, we have two separate cohorts, which get mixed up so we can be with different teammates. One cohort practices from 3:15 to 5:15 and the other cohort practices from 5:15 to 6:30. 

The only place for us to safely practice all together is at Phoenix Academy, where there is enough room for us to all be there at the same time and still be socially distanced. The pool at Phoenix has six lanes and the lanes are wider so there can be several people sharing a lane. Unlike the McCaskey pool, the pool at Phoenix has actual starting blocks, which makes it nicer for meet preparation. 

Our season was interrupted on December 13, when the PIAA effectively closed winter sports for three weeks due to the amount of COVID-19 cases in the state. When practice resumed on January 4, it was a big adjustment for me to get back into the hard work after the time off. The week before our first meet was tough, but it all was worth it in the end. All of the grueling practices and exhaustion pay off when you are able to go to meets and swim well. 

The meet turned out to be really fun. We were all spread out in the hallway where we were waiting till our race, so feeling unsafe about COVID was definitely not the main thing on my mind. Everyone was doing what they were supposed to be in order to stay safe. The refs couldn’t blow a whistle because of the transmission risk, so they had a loud buzzer that told us when to step up, take our mark and go.  

Once the first meet was over on Tuesday and my nerves calmed down,  I really enjoyed it. It is a very normal thing for a person’s nerves to go crazy when they’re doing something new but my aunt, Renee Houser told me, “just channel it into your sports”. Once the meet was over, I realized that all of those nerves were for nothing. The meet went great and it was all totally fine! 

We all got through the first meet, which has made the other ones feel so much better. It’s all quite different with COVID-19 and we all are still being very careful, especially now that people are back in school in person.