There are many sports such as football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis and even ping pong, but many students are unaware of the school’s swim team.

The team currently consists of five members: freshmen Kelly Thai and Lelia Atumah, and  juniors  Annie Thai, Chris Do and Jibrell Aguirre, with the addition of coach Philip Wiggins. Due to pool unavailability, the team currently trains with Garland High School’s swim team.

“It’s not uncommon for districts that don’t have a pool to share a facility,” Wiggins said. “The new facility will break ground at the end of May, and will take 15 months [to build].”

Swim season takes place at the beginning of the school year up until February. Their last competition took place on Feb 5 and 6. Practices take place in the mornings and require traveling to the pool facility. They return to school afterwards to attend their other classes. However, this schedule does not apply to every member and can vary due to block scheduling.

“During season, practice starts at 6:30 a.m.,” Do said. “You can have double-blocked swim [class], which is A1 and B1, but if your schedule doesn’t fit [both], you can do either A1 or B1.”

At the beginning of the season, their weekly meets start on Tuesday nights and later move to Saturdays. The meets give the team opportunities to advance to the next stage of competition for different categories.

“I swim 100 meter backstroke and 50 meter freestyle,” Atumah said. “I [placed] fourth and fifth, [so] I go to regionals from districts.”

There are pros from being on the team such as the close-knit group the members formed. However, there are also cons such as difficult and early practices.

“We’re very close,” Kelly Thai said. “Everyone talks to each other [and] no one is excluded from the group. [But] it’s very tough. Our coach works us really hard.”

Wiggins suggests that those who are interested in joining should train over the summer in preparation for tryouts and learn the four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle. The swim team has not had a lot of recognition and are hoping to expand their group.

“There’re some summer leagues, or club teams for the guys and girls, that are a little more serious,” Wiggins said. “We have tryouts at the beginning of school.”

According to Annie Thai, being a part of the swim team has given her a sense of leadership and time management.

“We have swimming on top of schoolwork and some of us have to do homework during meets,” Annie Thai said. “[But] it gives [me] an opportunity to bond with and meet new people.”

First Row (from left to right): Annie Thai, Kelly Thai, and Lelia Atumah
Second Row (from left to right): Jibrell Aguirre and Chris Do