You Gotta Have Heart

Well its been a busy couple of weeks up here at Dickinson. The dreaded swine flu has hit us pretty hard claiming about 20 cases a day and 8% of our student body so far. My yearly sinus infection is in full swing. I won't go into any great, nauseating detail, but let's just say I'm thoroughly addicted to nasal spray by now; there's just no way I'd be breathing without it. My swim team is no survivor of this influx of disease by any means. Just this week we lost six girls and three guys to the flu, a few of us have our sinus infections, and one guy has mono. So we're kinda hurting a little. But practice must go on, and so everyday we come in to practice, those skipping who can't stand long enough to walk over; everybody else just running to the bathroom when necessary. And of course all this practice isn't for nothing.

That's right this weekend was our first official meet. Yes, my Thursday and Friday nights have now become insurmountably boring with our new in season curfew--I'm basically stuck to doing homework and sleeping. It also means waking up at 7am on Saturdays to warmup and making multiple-hour bus rides to our opponents pools. Yes, it's a lovely thing this swim season. But it's also the time where the team bands together, where there are deafening cheers for the close races whether it be for first or third place--because every last point counts. It's the time where four guys stand behind the block and cheer and yell and swim till their lungs burst for their relay and for their teammates.

As I was saying, we had our first meet this weekend amongst all the bacteria and viruses devouring our team. We have guys sleeping in between races, puking after races, and going into coughing fits through the whole meet. Our meet was against the Scranton Royals (who's mascot is oddly enough a wolf--explain that one??) who was supposed to be a tough team to beat when we were completely healthy. We arrive at the pool, do our warmup, and get ready for the meet to begin. First relay hits and we pull off a second place while Scranton takes first and third, not a great start, but our times weren't too bad. As the meet continues we don't hold up quite so well as our first relay. The next event was the 1000 freestyle and we had two guys puking at the end of it. The rest of the day was pretty much the same. Swim as fast as you can go (sometimes while coughing in the midst of the race) and then get out and vomit your brains out (by the way, my apologies to the weak-stomached for such descriptions). I'd love to say, that through such adversity our team came back to win the meet and prove that we were the better team, but no such thing happened--it was a blowout 122-67.

But I believe we still are the better team. No Scranton swimmers were lying on the ground after their events; no Scranton swimmers needed to be rushed into the bathroom or removed from the lineup against their will. No, but our swimmers dealt with such struggles and pushed through them. It is true, not all of us had great season opening times (although some of us did manage some great times), but every single person on my team pushed until there was nothing left. In the last relay of the day, I'm standing behind the blocks with the three teams--that's twelve people--who were left standing by the end of the meet. And looking into each of their faces, I knew they were all giving every last ounce of strength they had to those last four laps of the day. The race began, I finished my leg, scrambled out of the pool, wordless--breathless--staring at the teammates around me, determination still on their faces. Each leg went as mine did, the swimmer silently, heaving, climbing out of the pool sapped of all strength. We sat on the ground just long enough to muster what hoarse shouts and cries we could muster for those who still had yet to race their legs. And we finished our races in 2nd, 4th, and 5th, gasping for air, hearts pounding, muscles aching and stomachs turning, nothing left--job well done, meet well swam, goal accomplished. I've seen all I need to know that this season and this team will not be defeated with a score at the end of a meet; no, we are stronger than that, we have more heart than that.