My Club Team: Family Beyond the Pool

Photo Courtesy: Kate Smarjesse

By Kate Smarjesse, Swimming World College Intern

Every club team has cliques and friend groups that do everything together, but my club team didn’t. From the moment I joined my club team 14 years ago to today, my team has cared more about being a family and being there to support each other more than winning.

Don’t get the wrong impression, we cared about winning. In fact, in my club season glory days my club team was one of the top swim programs in the state of Illinois. Although our team went through rough times with coach changes, teammates leaving, and not owning our own pool until recently, we all stuck together and made the best out of every situation we were faced with.

My team is a true family. They have been there for me from my worst to my best. Nothing will ever compare to the friendships I have made on that team. From filling a whole restaurant with our team after Saturday morning practice to spending the whole day at teammates lake houses, we did it together. Bonfires every week in the summer, goodie bags before our championship meets, and pizza parties at every away swim meet; my teammates helped me fall in love with the sport, and not just the swimming part.

Photo Courtesy: Kate Smarjesse

“Club swimming gives an opportunity to be with a certain group of people every day, and over time you become so close with them without realizing it. That’s my favorite thing: the friendships you make without even trying to,” Peoria Area Water Wizards (PAWW) swimmer Ashton Adams said.

Swimming three sets of 12 x 75s every Saturday morning will forever be burned into my memory, but I don’t remember them just because they were awful. I have a clear memory of them because of how we swam them. We swam it as a team.

At the time I was a scared little grade schooler who got moved up to swim with the high schoolers. They felt so old and looked scary to me, but my opinion was quickly changed. We completed the set together, no matter how fast you swam it. I will always remember completing that set for the first time and the overwhelming amount of encouragement everyone gave me.

“My general mission is to make a positive difference in lives of my swimmers. My goal is to help mold good citizens of our world and a love for the sport of swimming…something they can do their whole lives. Hopefully along the way, through swimming, they realize the potential that lies within themselves to make a positive difference wherever they are,” PAWW swim coach Tracy Miller said.

Swimming isn’t all about swimming. It is a mentally and physically tough sport. It is important to have teammates that you can lean on when you are struggling. Without the family my club team has given me, I do not think I would have stayed in the sport as long as I have.

I just finished my first collegiate swim season and I really owe it to my club teammates. Thank you for always pushing me, cheering me on, and encouraging me to make my dreams come true. Although we are all scattered across the country, swimming for different teams or not swimming at all, I will still think of you as my family and I wouldn’t be where I am today without every one of you.

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