Swim team collaborates with St. Francis to cope with cut season

PHOTO: Swim athletes can follow optional exercise activities at home during shelter-in-place.

By Lyah Fitzpatrick,

BlueDevilHUB.com Editor-

Like an impromptu wave, coronavirus (COVID-19) surged forward, sweeping away any chances at continuing Davis High’s winter swim season. 

“The start of this was obviously a shock to everybody,” swim coach Owen Yancher said. But Yancher and co-coach John Varley planned to ride the wave to its fullest potential.

After the high school was closed down, the team took a week to set up online communication. The coaches implemented Google Classroom and Zoom platforms to keep in touch. Once the structure was established, instruction began.

“We’re trying to expand everybody’s athletic toolbox,” Yancher said. The coach sends out crossfit workouts geared towards cardio every week, but also shares psychology and DHS coach speaker videos. “[Mind and body are] the same category of wellness.”

Although the coaches cannot require athletes to complete the suggested training, Yancher estimates that around 60 percent of the team participates.

The Devils have also been collaborating with the St. Francis swim team. Each week, members from both teams join a Zoom call to collaborate over some sort of predetermined activity.

“Coaches miss competition too,” Yancher said. He helped put the idea into motion after swim meet notifications from his phone made him realize how much he missed the events.

After a friendly scavenger hunt during the first Zoom call, the group moved on to a relay video contest in their second exchange. Both teams split up into groups of four and filmed clips of themselves swimming– on land. The scenes included car surfers, stomach-skateboarders and other oddly positioned swimmers.

“Me, Collin [Fitzpatrick] and Antonio [Garibay] made one and we kinda won that,” athlete and senior Thor Straangard said. Clips from a few of the groups’ videos even made Fox 40 news.

However, although the team is still active, athletes and coaches both can’t help but miss normal training. 

“I have discovered how much I miss the physical presence of athletes,” Yancher said. Later, quoting a comment he read by track and field coach and English teacher Spencer Elliott, Yancher added: “It’s not necessarily a happy [moment], but it makes you put things in perspective.”

While Yancher misses his pupils, Straangard misses his fellow team members.

“I miss swimming with my teammates, and having fun, you know– being with my friends every single day,” Straangard said.

Sophomore Charlotte Rosendale’s passion for swimming had faded until she recognized how much she took the sport for granted.

“[The pandemic made me] realize swimming is a much bigger part of my life than I could’ve ever imagined,” Johnson said. “I don’t know what I would do without it.”

The team plans to continue until the end of the season, and is trying to set up a senior night with both Devil and Troubador seniors over Zoom. The DHS athletic department is continuing a series of DHS coaches speaking on various topics.

“When we go back to practice after this is all over, I will have a much better attitude about the sport,” Johnson said.


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