Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Voices - Rebecca Scheffter, Women's Swimming
2/7/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 7, 2007
It's 5:45 in the morning this February, still dark with the wind chill below five degrees, and I squint against the wind as I walk down the hill for practice, dreading that jump into the cold pool. My only consolation is that we will only have to be up this early a few more times, with championships just two weeks away. It's hard to believe that we've made it through another year of practices, getting up three days a week before the sun and completing doubles, with more practice, weights, drylands, and meets on the days in between. Each stage of the season is different, and when I come into the final stage, it's amazing to reflect on how far we've come as a team and look excitedly towards how far we will go at Patriot Leagues. I am a senior English major and a sprint freestyler, swimming the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle as my main events. As this is my last year of swimming, it really is incredible to reflect on what swimming has meant to me the past four years. I am as excited for Patriot Leagues as ever, but this year there is a bittersweet air to that excitement, seeing as that final relay on Saturday night may very well be my last official race in the sport of swimming.
I find it valuable at this point in the season to look back at the work our team has accomplished throughout each stage of the season, starting with the first and most difficult phase of getting back into shape in early September. Once we were into the swing of things with weights, medicine balls, drylands and tough threshold swimming sets in the pool, we moved into meet season, with almost every weekend presenting a new opportunity to race. We raced some new teams this year, had some good meets, exciting swims, and the occasional disappointing swim. Each of these add up to a successful season of hard work and good racing. Then came Christmas break, a time that swimmers dread but then somehow enjoy- three weeks of double practice here in wintery central PA beginning just two days after Christmas, with nothing but grueling practices, the camaraderie of teammates, a lot of food and plenty of sleep to keep us busy. The weeks flew by this year and school began again seemingly without warning, but the Bison Swimmers just kept up our hard work as usual, both in the pool and in the classroom. Hard training is part of life, and the team has continued to meet the challenges placed before us by the coaching staff each time we have plunged into Kinney Natatorium this year.
Now the season is winding down, or I suppose more like building up, to the Patriot League Championships. Though we have to face the morning hours a few more times this year, practice is less focused on the intensity of the previous phases of the season. This stage is called "taper" and involves easing off on yardage, weights, and medicine balls as we approach Patriots, resting our bodies so we will perform at our best. We approach the pool each day with anticipation, both because practice is shorter and a bit less painful, and because we are refining our races, with focus on starts, turns, and technical skills to prepare for exciting swims against the other Patriot League teams. As head coach Dan Schinnerer told us just this morning before practice, we can rest our bodies, and also rest assured that we will have success because we have put in months and months of hard work. I am expecting nothing less than exciting swims, personal bests, and new records at Patriot League Championships. I think I reflect the whole team's opinion when I speak of the anticipation of this meet; it is the one we look to all year, the one where we have had such success in the past, and the one goal we have had in mind all year. Our team slogan reads "One team. One goal," and we have accomplished goal after goal this year, in each set, each practice, and each day. Now it is time to accomplish the ultimate goal, and also, for me, complete the greater triumph of participating in such a wonderful sport, with such supportive teammates and coaches, for all four years of college.
- Rebecca Scheffter, Bucknell Women's Swimming and Diving
