It’s 35 degrees out, and the brisk winter air blows against the backs of the CESJDS swimmers as they dive into the outside pool at the Jewish Community Center (JCC). It’s almost completely dark outside as the swimmers begin their warm-up laps around the pool. Even with all these challenges, the team continues to practice.
Every Tuesday and Thursday at 5 p.m. at the JCC, some combination of the 13 JDS swimmers sign up and come to practice in preparation for their first meet of the season on Thursday, Dec. 18.
Practices start with a warm-up consisting of 100 meters of freestyle and 100 meters of a stroke of each swimmer’s choice. Then the team moves into the main workout portion of practice, consisting of repeating sets of different strokes and distances. Finally, they finish with a cool down, which is usually swimming at a slower and easier pace. The team might also do a relay race to build teamwork.
As head coach Gabriella Pilarski explained, team building is an important part of practice and meets as there is time to get to know each other and talk during breaks in between laps. Additionally, many swimmers on the team already know each other from competing against each other at club-level meets, fostering more meaningful bonds among the swimmers.
“I would say, at meets, the environment is very supportive,” Pilarski said. We make sure that the students do a great job, actually make sure they are going and cheering for each other’s best.”
For the meets on Thursday, there will be a meet specifically for middle schoolers at the Lowell School at 3:30 p.m., catering to less experienced swimmers. The other meet is a PVAC meet in which middle schoolers and high schoolers can participate. This will take place in the University of the District of Columbia’s Natatorium at 6 p.m. Two other middle school meets will be held this season, in addition to the PVAC championship.
The PVAC championship is a major part of the season, with the goal of the practices being to decide which swimmers will participate in which events and help them prepare for those events. The PVAC championship is also the only high school meet this year other than the one this week.
Around 40% of the swimmers are new to the team, while the other 60% are returning. The new swimmers are mainly focusing on building endurance while swimming long distances. While returning swimmers are focused on improving their form and speed while swimming.
“At the beginning of the season, there were some inexperienced swimmers, but now they’re learning how to swim actually properly and get better, which is really good,” eighth-grade swimmer Miles Boyar said.
While some are not the most experienced, others swim very competitively and are focused on swimming on their club teams instead of the JDS one. Another focus of the team is that over half of the team is in middle school, meaning there will be more meets for them than for the high schoolers.
Boyar is a regular attendee at practice and has been swimming since he was two years old. Recently, he fully tore his patellar tendon, including a fractured bone right above his shin, and has been unable to practice with the team. However, he took a coaching role to continue being part of the team. Boyer helps in practice by using his experience to coach new swimmers, motivate the team and generally ensure everyone is doing well.
“I just wanted to be part of the team, make the practice and put energy into the swim team,” Boyer said.
A new addition to the team is Assistant Coach Michael Dawson. Dawson has experience working with kids before as a teacher assistant, but has not formally coached before. His primary purpose is to be helpful to Pilarsky anyway he can.
“I would like to learn more about regimens that one uses to practice swimming, and I’m learning a lot from Coach Pilarsky about the reasoning behind why you would want to do certain sets of different stroke styles and iterations and the amount of effort you’re putting in,” Dawson said.
Overall, the JDS swim team has been a consistent way for students like Boyer and others to make friends and become better swimmers.
“The team really has a fun energy and a warm and welcoming culture, especially to new swimmers, and it’s just really good to be part of the JDS swim team,” Boyer said.
