Digging into a Box of Caps

Feature by Tyler Remmel

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 21. ALL too often, swimmers take their caps for granted. A whole world of possibilities is waiting to be unlocked when you look closer at that flat piece of rubber. Really look closely. What does that cap say on it? What color is it? Then think to yourself: why do I wear it?

Caps and practice suits are the same in one aspect. What you wear is like what car you drive, except without the money part. The primary difference, and the reason that caps are so much different, however, is the idea that they are disposable.

At most, you might spend $12 on a cap. Grab bag caps might set you back $4. If you're a collegiate swimmer, you might even luck out and have a box of practice caps that are there for the taking.


Courtesy of Tyler Remmel.

You always choose the cap you wear, though. And behind that cap, there can be a lot of stories.

At Ashland University, there is a steadily stocked box of practice caps in the coaching office. While it had a few of the novelty caps (like ones depicting snorkeling turtles), most of them were overrun caps from a few different teams that Kast-a-Way swimwear does work for.

According to Kast-a-Way, overrun caps exist because of a mistake during the printing of the caps. It could be a press whose setting is a little off, a color that isn't to specification, or any of a variety of reasons. These mistakes make the caps sell for a much cheaper price, and make them an ideal purchase for a college team looking for a cheap box of caps.

These caps were from teams that none of the swimmers had ever seen before. Some had names, some showed that they were meant for "Senior Champs" teams, and others just had a stock club logo. All of them made good practice caps, but they made even better sources of endless entertainment.

The first caps out of that box to become popular were dark green caps emblazoned with the letters NDCY. Some had nothing more than those four letters, but most had a name as well. Half of the team must have been wearing those caps at one point. The Ashland University team could have easily been mistaken for the NDCY team on any given day.

Assistant coach Mike Shelby once joked that the team looked like they'd gone to where ever NDCY was and beat up a bunch of children, stole their caps, and now wore them as trophies. It was a funny joke at the time, but even funnier because if the caps didn't come from the box, they would have come from a young team.

The Northern Dauphin County YMCA Gators (NDCY) team is from Elizabethville, Pa. Judging from the team picture on the team's website, it would appear that they are mostly young. Some Ashland swimmers may never realize how funny that joke would have been if they actually knew the team whose caps they were wearing.

The names on the caps had a more lasting impact, in some cases. Surnames like Paul, Lindsay, Roadcap, and Tallman gave nickname potential for the swimmers wearing those respective caps. The most lasting nickname was Tallman, though. The Tallman cap belonged to freshman Carianna Doyle, which was ironic because she's one of the shorter people on the team. Shelby loved the nickname "Tallman," and routinely threw it around. Even after the cap had broken, the nickname stuck with Doyle.

Then again, sometimes caps are worn (or consequently, saved) because of the way that they were obtained. For instance, Ashland freshman Hueston Holder managed to find a lost Michigan State cap during a meet at Eastern Michigan. Before the meet, it was his goal to wrangle an MSU cap before he headed home after his final swim. The allure of that cap was the Spartan logo on its side. There's something about a Big Ten logo that looks cooler than the logo of a small-town Division II school.

For Holder, that cap was a sign of accomplishment, a status symbol, a trophy. He still keeps it in his swim bag and is still just as proud.

For the craftier female swimmers, the blank caps in that magical box were the most popular. Flat purple caps were decorated like scrapbooks. Girls took them like a blank canvas and ran with it, writing their names or nicknames in sweeping letters. Flowers, stars, and swirls accessorized the caps even further. The personalization factor of these caps made them an obvious practice choice for the girls who took the time to "make it their own."

Then again, the purpose of wearing a particular cap might just be a representation of a larger cause. On Nov. 6, 2010, Ashland traveled to the University of Indianapolis for a breast cancer awareness meet. Along with the pink ribbons and balloons that decorated the pool and stands, each team was given pink T-shirts and caps. Those pink caps really struck a note with some. That might be a reason that they were a popular choice in the week following that meet.

Sometimes, caps can even represent a connection to something. In Hartland, Wisc., two Lake Country swimmers wear the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club (SMAC) Senior Champs caps that they found in that cap box. Taking out that cap every day keeps them a little bit closer to their school, even though they're almost 450 miles away.

In the end, there's almost always a reason for choosing a particular cap to wear in practice. Just like you wouldn't go into your closet blindfolded and pick what to wear, swimmers don't really reach into their bags and haphazardly pick the first cap they feel as the one they will wear. But, what does your cap say about you?

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