December Is Different For Swimmers

A native of Poland, Krystyna Wieczerzak is a junior on the Wright State Swimming & Diving team, and a Swimming & Diving correspondent for the HLN Blog.

December is, for most of the people, the magical time when everybody is shopping for Christmas trees, singing "Jingle Bells" and dreaming about the "White Christmas." However, that's not what December is like for the swimming and diving team. For us, December always means one thing — really hard work.

First was the Miami University Invitational where we had the chance to swim at a really nice, long-course pool. It was split in half, so we were competing on a normal 25-yard pool, and we had a nice space to warm up and warm down. This meet was an excellent opportunity for us to learn how to race when we are exhausted. Most of us had at least two events everyday, and a lot of us competed three, four, or even more times per day. We came back to campus extremely tired, but satisfied. There were many season-best times, as well as career-best times.

One week later we went on a training trip to Florida. Even though all of our thoughts were focused on sun, beaches, ocean and working hard; we had some Christmas spirit as well. During the travel day we were supposed to dress nice. A few of our boys were wearing cute ties featuring snowmen, Santa, Christmas trees etc.. The ties also played "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." However, the person who truly showed Christmas spirit on our team was Molley Pipkorn. She brought a traditional Christmas favorite, "The Polar Express," so people could watch this magical movie and get into the Christmas spirit before going back home. I must admit, I did not see the movie this year. After last year, where I had been accused of being a spoiler, I preferred not to.

I can describe the practice part of this training trip with one of our coach's sayings: "If you have a problem with the interval, just swim faster." Every day seemed harder and harder, but we didn't give up. We were just swimming/diving harder. Every practice was brutal, but on the other hand it gave us a lot of satisfaction and hopes for the future.

Now, after spending few days at home for Christmas, we are back in the pool. It's hard to believe, but there are only seven weeks left until the Horizon League Championships! This weekend will be tough, as we swim against Ohio State from the Big Ten. Their pool is really nice, which makes this meet even more exciting!

New Year, new quarter, new challenges, but still the same goal... just like everybody else: Win the Horizon League! The New Year came, so here are our team's resolutions for 2010:

1. Practice harder
2. Stay tough
3. Stay healthy