Improvement is Success

Unfortunately, Guilford’s women's swim team and the Guilford Buzz do not get a lot of attention from students. I was probably one of the few that were shocked when I saw the Buzz message in January that read: Guilford College Women’s Swim Team is looking for swimmers. 

Membership has been an issue for the swim team this season. At the start of the year, the team had around 14 committed swimmers. Presently, the team has only 11 swimmers on the active roster going into the ODAC Tournament this past weekend. 

For the swim team, success is viewed differently than wins and losses. “We just go out and try to do our best each meet,” said senior co-captain Sara Waitsman. The team isn’t concerned with winning, but the improvement and development of its swimmer’s throughout the season.

This theme is echoed by head coach Steve Kaczmarek. He has said that performing well in meets is not about accumulating points or getting first place, it’s about the team enjoying swimming. “The main goal is to keep improving and drop times,” said senior co-captain Daphne Murphy.

The Quakers have hope though. They defeated Emory and Henry earlier this year for their second win so far in the 2010-2011 campaign.

The swim team lost to Greensboro, 107-76, in the tune up before the ODAC tournament but the score didn’t tell the whole story. The Quakers were competitive throughout the entire meet. All the Guilford swimmers had a chance to win every race. For someone who has never attended a swim meet before, I was impressed.

As a first-time spectator, I was surprised how much energy was packed into the pool. “I think one of our biggest strengths is that we're all pretty close and that helps during meets because we all support each other in our races,” said Kim Abbott. The crowd comprised mostly of Greensboro College students, but there was also some of the Guilford faithful attending.

 In most races, the Guilford swimmers placed in second or third, with a few occasional first-place victories. Murphy was dazzling to watch in the water. She was a shark.

After watching the meet, I think I know why these girls swim. It’s simply the competitive fire that fuels every single athlete. It’s the rush of the adrenaline that kicks in right before you have to perform. It’s showing the world all the hard work and time spent on honing your skills behind closed doors. It’s about pride.

Waitsman believes pride and improvement go hand in hand with swimming. “You may not be able to tell based on the points we earned at each meet but, if you look at people's individual times, everyone has improved.”

Guilford certainly had it against Greensboro. They were in a huddle to begin the meet trying to pump each other up. From them on, it was non-stop cheering, screaming, and swimming. Every single race, every single team member pulled for their teammates to win the race. I never expected a swim meet to be so loud.

Most of the time, other teammates outside of the pool would run alongside the swimmer and give her special hand signals, presumably to let her know how she was doing. Kaczmarek was quiet on the sidelines and let his team do the talking. He would only give advice and talk to his team during the breaks of the meet, when I saw him pointing fingers and waving his arms around.

            Although the Quakers did not pull out the victory, there was not questioning their determination. They came to do their best and to improve their times.  

            The swim team took their determination to Christansburg, Va., to compete in the ODAC Atlantic States Championships this past weekend. The Quakers did not win any races, but most of them swam their best times of the season, and some even topped their career best times.

            When I asked Murphy what a successful showing at the tournament would be, she said, “If we all dropped our time and left the pool knowing we gave it our all.”

            For this year’s team, that’s what Guilford swimming is all about.