Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Swimming and Diving Blog - Denver Freeman
Unlike many other sports, swimming requires a consistency where even taking a small break can be detrimental to the athlete’s performance. Our breaks typically only last a couple of weeks and then we are required to be back in the water. Taking an entire season off can very easily have a negative effect on the next year, causing one’s ability to decrease in a negative manner and putting them at a disadvantage while competing. It is especially vital to maintain a rigorous routine over the summer and through the start of the season. For me, and many of my teammates, this past summer has played a very big role in how successful this season has been thus far. Summer is a good time to try new things, such as various dry land workouts, nutritional plans, and not having a heavy load of classes makes focusing on improving in swimming much easier. The difference in performance was very clear during the first weeks of season due to the tremendous efforts made by the team during the postseason.
For me, the summer was really what set my first year and sophomore year apart here at Bucknell. Going into your first year, one doesn’t know exactly what to expect, not only talking about swimming, but every aspect of college. This includes an increase in workload, making new friends, living alone for the first time, and for athletes adjusting to a new program. I can honestly say that all of these things were fears of mine when I was entering Bucknell in August 2013. This year so far has been very different because I knew what to expect and I didn’t have to worry about things like making friends or living alone. Now that I am well-adjusted to my surroundings this season I am much more capable of pushing and challenging myself in a variety of ways. Now that I am more accustomed to Coach Schinnerer’s methods, I was able to better analyze both my strengths and weakness over the summer, which further allowed me to prepare for the start of the season.
After the postseason, the first few weeks are dire in terms of building up a strong aerobic base and reforming stroke technique. As a team, there was a clear upward trend, and this allowed us to be competitive with teams like UMBC, Boston, George Washington and Pitt, teams whom we competed against at the start of the season. A few weekends ago we had our quad meet where we host Navy, Lafayette, and American. Coming up is the Bucknell Invite, where eight different teams from around the east coast will be competing at Kinney Natatorium. This meet, much like the summer season, is important because it prepares us for the future, in the sense that it is a prelim/final meet very similar to the conference championships. Although we will not be fully rested, it gives us the opportunity to compete in a setup that simulates an end-of-the-season meet and lets us see what progress we have made thus far. The Bucknell Invite also gives our team a boost of moral, driving us all the way home to championships in February!
Go Bison!
Denver Freeman