The Club Swim Team - Corona Style

 I have swam since I was eight years old. It is something that I got into young to strengthen my heart, and my family fell in love. I have always done it for fun, but my twin swims super competitively. She is swimming for Xavier, a D1 school in Cincinnati, and her and her roommate talked me into checking out the club swim team here at the University of Kentucky. Once I met some of the people on the team, I was hooked. Being on a swim team in the middle of a pandemic is very weird though. For starters, our conditioning and strength training has had to be conducted outside. We usually meet at Pieratt field by the Johnson center because it has plenty of space for us to really spread out. Everyone must be at least six feet apart, and masks are required, even when we are running. The weirdest part, however, is when we actually have swim practice. For starters, our time in the pool was greatly cut back. We used to have practice every night Sunday through Wednesday, but now we only get to practice on Mondays and Wednesdays. At a normal practice, we could condense into a small amount of lanes, but because of Covid, everyone must have their own lane. The only exception is if the other person on your lane starts on the opposite side of the pool than you. Since everyone is very spread out, hearing what the coaches are saying can be very difficult. Everyone must wear a mask on deck until the second they jump into the pool and must put it back on as soon as they get out. This can be annoying because then your mask gets soaked and will smell like chlorine. The pandemic also caused all of our meets to be cancelled. This really bummed me out because I was excited to travel to other colleges and compete. I joined the club swim team to meet new people, and I have, but it has been extremely difficult. Without being able to share lanes with people and go to meets, it can be hard to get to know the other members on the team. Hopefully we will be able to return to a semi-normal season soon.