The school’s swim and dive team altered its practice schedule this season after the on-campus aquatic center opened on Jan. 27.
The team practices are now held from 6:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., Monday through Friday. Before the pool opened, practices ran from 8:15 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northwest San Diego in Solana Beach.
Swimmers, divers and parents have varied opinions on the new routine.
“To me, I have mixed feelings about the new timings,” swim and dive team member Savannah Verhulst (9) said. “I feel that swimming in the morning is exhausting because after swim, I have school. The other thing that makes [a] difference in my day is being rushed when getting ready. It also takes a lot of energy out of me.”
Some swimmers see the benefit of new time as it allows on-campus practices.
“I prefer this pre-school morning slot over the practices last year that would end at 9:30 p.m.,” varsity swimmer Charlene Kang (12) said. “I feel having practice at school is more convenient than the boys and girls club at Loma Santa Fe, since we have to be at school regardless.”
While the new schedule may be inconvenient for students and parents, some see benefits.
“I think the morning timeslot allows TP Swim to continue to secure great assistant coaches,” Caryn McCall, a parent of a swimmer, said. “A lot of coaches have other jobs, so the alternative practice times might have meant losing assistant coaches or returning to evening practices to keep them.”
Varsity head coach Richard Contreras agrees with the parental convenience rationale, as parents of swimmers and divers are trying to do what they believe is best for their children.
“The parents are probably pretty happy to do it, because they love their children,” Contreras said. “They want to support their children, and that’s one way they can support them, is by getting them to swim practice.”
However, the timing of the morning practices do not fit everyone’s desires.
“I don’t think any parent is excited about getting up early for swim practices,” McCall said.
From a parental perspective, students also have more time to pursue other extracurricular activities after school.
“Having morning swim practices and evening dive practices allows the dive students to easily participate in both activities for [this school],” McCall said.
Verhulst still prefers swimming after school.
“I am friends with a lot of other people who swim in the water and they seem to hate how early the practices are,” Verhulst said. “It can be tough for a lot of swimmers because some swimmers’ parents have jobs that can interfere with getting to swim practice.”
Despite these effects, this new practice time has completely shifted team morale “attendance-wise,” according to Contreras.
“We’ve had record attendance so far this season in terms of the high school practice,” Contreras said. “We’ve had more kids than ever at every practice.”
Students also see how practice attendance has also increased, even with this new early practice time.
“The early practice times don’t seem to negate the effects that finally having our own pool has had on participation in the swim and dive program,” Kang said. “Despite them, the team seems bigger than I ever remember it being.”
With this attendance increase, Contreras adds that students are not obliged to attend every practice, allowing leeway during the 11-week season.
“I give them one free miss a week,” Contreras said. “Plus, the whole team gets four free absences. So if you add that up, it’s about 15 practices off, so they can manage.”
If an athlete on the team is also a club swimmer, they are only obliged to attend one practice a week. Additionally, the early times were decided for swimmers’ sake according to Contreras, as the pool is shared with La Costa Canyon High School, San Dieguito Academy and Canyon Crest Academy.
“So if you have all four swim teams practicing in the same pool in the afternoon, it’s going to be a real congested situation,” Contreras said. “So I immediately thought, I’ll go in the morning, and we’ll get out of everybody’s way, you know? I mean, so that the other teams can have more access to the pool.”
Families also had a say in deciding practice times.
“Before we made the decision, I sent out a poll to all the kids or all the families whose email we had, so sophomores, juniors, seniors — everybody’s information we had — … asking them what they thought about the practice time, and most of the respondents said they would like a morning time,” Contreras said. “So based on those two pieces of information, that’s why we made the choice.”
The first meet of the season and first home meet in school history is scheduled for March 13 against Del Norte High School.
