The Breakfast of Champions is Actually Swim Practice

At this time of year, many friends and teams opt to participate in a “Secret Santa” gift exchange. The State University of New York at Buffalo’s Women’s Swimming and Diving team don’t do this, though, because they’ve already been doing a “Secret Sister” since the beginning of the year. This fun and supportive exchange amongst teammates will continue until the MAC Championship Meet, when the identity of their “sister” is revealed. At the beginning of each year, team member draw the name of another teammate from a hat. This name becomes their year-long “project”. Before meets, they can make their “secret sister” posters, buy them small gifts, or get more creative in order to motivate them through the often weekend-long meets. “It's just a fun way to get excited for meets and it's a good way to learn new things about our teammates,” shares a senior member of the team.  In addition to this fun tradition, these athletes draw focus and motivation from each other each day at practice, even if they don’t have much time to chat during their sets. From fall until March, these ladies are focused on giving their best every day, which starts on their “rough double days” with an alarm at approximately 5:30 a.m. so they can be in the water ready to swim at 6. Classes and school work follow, and then they proceed to dry land practice for a half an hour, concluding with a two hour swim to end their physical training for the day. Despite the physical fatigue that such long days brings, the women describe their long season as “great” because it leaves them plenty of time to prepare for MAC Championships.

The work is undoubtedly difficult, but these women see results from their physical labors, describing the highlights of their season as being some of their toughest meets. After the Snowvember storm, the women arrived to their meet in Cleveland after missing a day of competition. Despite this, the women share that “the coaches did a great job of preparing [them] and staying calm,” so the team was able to give many season best times and a handful of lifetime best performances. They also attribute much of their success to the influence of their captains, who “guide them to be better in and out of the pool.”   Such quality leadership is what helped these swimmers and divers at an invitational earlier this season to defeat Akron, the reigning MAC Champions from last year. They share, “it came down to the last relay so the whole meet was close,” but the Bulls stayed strong and came out on top. The early season success has this team, and its fans, optimistic and excited. “The hardest training of the season is coming up soon,” reports one swimmer. “As long as we keep up the training we’ve been doing, we definitely have a shot at the MAC title this year.” This talented and focused group of women has a very special team this year, and everyone is excited to see what they can do with the second half of their season!

To continue following the Women’s Swimming and Diving Team in their quest for a MAC title, and to hear about our other talented teams, Like the Bulls Pride Facebook Page. Also, be sure to Follow @UB_BullsPride on both Instagram and Twitter.