With the water polo season coming to an end, the swimmers from Birmingham Community Charter High School get ready to make a splash as their season begins. At each swim meet, the swimmers can compete in various different events including freestyle, breaststroke, individual stroke, and relays.

“With the women’s water polo team in the playoffs and winning CIF and using the pool in the afternoon until last week, the swim team has spent a majority of time on dry land training and early morning swims 6 a.m.,” coach Stacy Smith said. “This strength conditioning involves core work, weight training, surgical tubing and flexibility”Members of the swim team are in good hands as Smith has had lots of experience. She has been coaching at BCCHS for 4 years and prior to that has coached at other schools since 1981.

The swimmers have been undergoing rigorous training to make sure their times accurately depict each of their strengths. These practices have taken place in the water and on the ground, each type offering different progress.

“First it’s weight exercises, a warm up, and then we do our main workouts. We always end with a small cool down and dives,” sophomore Ryan Sokolov said.

The skill sets of the members of the swim team can vary drastically. Some of the swimmers have been swimming for years and others are barely trying out competitive swim for the first time in their lives.

“I joined swim three years ago because I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle,” senior Rosemary Vazquez said.