The Palatine Boys Swim and Dive team kicked off their season with their Red and Grey meet on Dec 3, and had their first official home meet on Friday Dec 5 against Schaumburg High School.
The boys swept Schaumburg, taking all but two first place finishes at the varsity level and winning the meet 107-80 points. In swim meets, the top 6 finishers can earn points for their team, and Frosh-Soph and varsity points are counted separately, so it truly takes every member of the team to pull off a victory.
“I think that it’s important that we get faster as a team but also that we have this sportsmanship aspect where we’re known for being a team that supports each other and is inclusive,” senior co-captain Colten Hilgers said.
The three team captains work together at the start of the season to figure out goals for both themselves, and the team as a whole so that they know immediately what they can continue to work on as the season begins and progresses.
The boys have 42 swimmers on the team, so keeping a positive mindset and environment is important for all athletes to continue to excel. In such a large group, attitudes are incredibly contagious, and they often move from the top down, so everyone, in particular the returning swimmers, are important to creating that team dynamic.
“I really want to promote a positive team culture, because I feel like we’ve done a really good job of that this year and I just want to keep that going,” senior co-captain Max Casaccio said.
Swimming is a sport that highlights cross-grade involvement, and fostering friendships with younger athletes allows the next generation of the sport to pay it forward when they become upperclassmen. In the Red-Grey Meet, many athletes experience competition for the first time, so the environment is always incredibly supportive and understanding of mistakes, and the upperclassmen help to explain rules and make sure all of the younger boys get to their races of time.
“Specifically at this event, we did a really good job with cheering, especially the newer athletes, and the older guys did a great job setting an example for the rest of the season,” junior co-captain Michael O’Hare said.
The dynamic of a swim team can be very fluid from year to year, but the future always depends on the young swimmers to grow into confident leaders and athletes.
“This year we have a bunch of new underclassmen who are eager to actually get faster and show up, and I think that’s the most important thing when it comes to swimming,” Hilgers said.
This attitude puts the Pirates in a great position going forward, both for the rest of this season and in future years.
The Pirates take on Elk Grove at home this Friday Dec 12 at 4:30 for their second home meet of the season.
