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With two brand new coaches and more swimmers than ever, the swim team is ready to take on the new season and break down more barriers.
“Our coach, Tiffany, is amazing,” senior team captain Trace Rees said, “there’s not a whole lot of differences between her and the past coaches, I just think it’s a different style of respect the teammates are giving her.”
The new coach, Tiffany Clyde is extremely excited to bring what she has to the team. She hopes that it will be a good year, and that they will be able to perform well.
“I really love working with the kids and helping them learn to believe in themselves,” Clyde said.
Clyde loves coaching so much, she started early. However, due to certain circumstances, she had to stop for a while, but now she’s back and ready to help the team.
“I started coaching when I got into college, and I did that until our firstborn was born,” Clyde said. “When I started getting back to coaching, in a lot of ways it was like coming home.”
Not only does Clyde coach, but she also competes in some competitions herself.
“I just got back from Hawaii where I did an open water race,” Clyde said, “It was the Ironman world championship.”
Reflecting on the last season, some students went to state and performed well. They have the same hopes and more for this year.
“Last year I ended up going to state in an individual and a relay,” sophomore Chesney Howard said, “I took fourth in my heat for my individual, and we ended up beating the school record for the relay.”
It can be good to learn from more than one coach teaching you, because of the variety of knowledge different leaders offer. Many teammates agree.
“I think that it is so important to have a coach or two and an assistant coach, because everyone can teach you more,” Rees said.
The swim team has lots of goals for this year as a team, and they are working hard to achieve them. Some teammates are also looking to break personal records.
“I’m hoping to beat the backstroke record,” Howard said.
In the past, it has been hard for the team to win many meets and competitions due to the size of the team. However, they continue to get better and learn more from the meets.
“Because we have such a small team we can never score enough points, but we always have teammates that continue to do better and better,” Rees said.
The teammates and coaches have been on the lookout for new swimmers this year, and the team is larger than the previous season.
For seniors that are experiencing their last year with the team, they are happy that the program is growing, and has new students to keep it going. .
“I’m excited to know that I’m leaving a larger team than there was last year, because so many more freshmen are willing to try,” Rees said.
Even though sometimes they don’t do great at the meets, they still get value out of the work they put in and the connections they build.
“It’s just so fun to be around other swim teams,” Rees said, “We were just spending a lot of time with each other.”
