For this upcoming season of swimming, the boys and girls are hoping to have a successful season. They are already off with a strong start to practice. Practices are every day after school and even mornings twice a week. Being a swimmer is not easy and each of the swimmers and divers put in extra effort and work to strengthen their team.
Being a swimmer is a very time-consuming and demanding sport. With morning and evening practices during the week, swimmers tend to be very tired and sore throughout the season. As they go on during the season, they start to get more comfortable and begin adapting to their busy schedules. Our swim coaches here at Lewis Cass are very good at encouraging and being understanding of tired swimmers. Coaches Haley Ramer (boys coach) and Mandy Hall (girls coach), make swimming on the swim team so much fun!
I had the opportunity to interview the boys’ and girls’ swimming coaches. According to the coaches, both are pretty excited about this season and have a lot of encouragement for their teams. The boys’ coach, Haley Ramer, said “I am feeling very excited. With this being my first year as the boys’ coach we have fifteen swimmers and one manager. We have already doubled our team from last year. We also have a new assistant coach, Blake Guy who will bring more swimming knowledge to the program!” For this swim season, Haley Ramer also mentioned how she gets her swimmers to achieve their goals, while also enjoying having practices even when it gets tough. Haley says “In the month of November our goal is to get as many yards as possible. We have six morning practices and that helps us build up the yardage. We also do team-building activities one or two times a week, so we learn to work together and trust one another. We use positive reinforcement to help build confidence and most importantly, have fun!”
The ladies are striving to have a positive swim season and also do well at the county and conference meets this year. The girls set individual goals for themselves in the events they perform. Coach Mandy Hall says her feelings about this swim season with the ladies, “I am really excited for the 23-24 Girls swim season. We are 28 girls strong this year. We are excited to have thirteen freshmen, four sophomores, seven juniors, and five seniors. We have a great opportunity to do well at our county and conference meets this year.” For these girls to reach their goals Coach Mandy Hall works with them well to get them prepared for the season. Coach Mandy says, “We have prepared our girls by putting in a lot of yards and hours in the pool. We spend the first four weeks of the season conditioning pretty hard so that we can have success throughout the season. The girls buy into the training program, work hard; and in turn, see the results.”
Overall, both the boys’ and girls’ teams are looking forward to this season and are already working hard for a positive outcome. Haley Ramer also said, “If you know someone not in a winter sport and wants a great conditioning program, send them my way!” The coaches are always looking to take new swimmers. If you are interested, see Coach Haley Ramer or Coach Mandy Hall.
