What it takes to Win
By Luke Hernandez
Track, Cross Country, Wrestling, and Golf are all individual sports. But none compare to the most difficult, Swimming. Swimmers continue to prove they have some of the best physiques and athleticism in all of sports. Since it’s an individual sport, I’m willing to bet most people would say that team chemistry doesn’t play any part in the swimmers’ and divers’ performance. The team had something different to say, though.
I talked with divers and swimmers alike and they all have 1 thing in common. They all believe that team chemistry affects their performance during meets. Being an individual sport, some could make the argument that “it’s just a solo sport” or “you can’t have teamwork in an individual sport”.
But I believe that each independent swimmer affects the team as a whole.
Here’s why.
I talked with Owen Lewis and when asked if he thinks team chemistry matters in an individual sport and why, here’s what he said: “I think team chemistry matters because you can have other people supporting you in what your doing and you can have people sitting on the end of your lane and if the team morale is up then everyone can do better.”
Owen, a career swimmer, knows the pool inside and out and knows what makes swimmers tick. Hearing this from Owen speaks numbers.
When I asked Brodie Brown, one of the two divers here at Hamilton, the same question here’s what he had to say “I think team chemistry is one of the most important parts because if you have a lot of team chemistry it pushes you to do your best and to keep going even when things get difficult.”
Jaden Bierchbach, the other diver on the Hamilton dive team, was asked if he thinks the diving team has a team chemistry aspect and here’s what he had to say: “So it’s just me and Brodie and Brodie would play soccer last year and we dove together last year as well so we know each other pretty well so i’d say yeah.”
As you can see, the team has a very similar outlook on this topic, and they all see each other as a way to better themselves. No matter if the sport is individual or team based they all depend on eachother and that is what it take to win big.