With winter rapidly approaching, swim season is starting now.

The Liberty swim team has been recruiting members for the past few weeks. Both established competitive swimmers and absolute newcomers are invited to join. Mrs. Stacy Laine has been coaching swim for 11 years and embraces the challenge of improving swimming skills in a competitive environment.

“Swim kids are awesome, I like coaching swim because I get to watch kids learn a skill that will last forever and see how proud they are of their accomplishments,” said Coach Laine.

In order to prepare for swim meets,  Coach Laine writes the lineup according to rules of participation, limits per athlete and being strategic. 

The team practices 4 days a week. They practice on Mondays after school and Tuesday-Thursday at 5:30 am. While waking up at this time before a school day appears tough, several swimmers are up to the challenge.

“As long as you balance your sleep schedule, it’s okay! There are so many advantages, having time [in the evening] for homework and after school activities and having a stronger team bond,” said sophomore Bryar Laine, when asked how she feels about waking up early for practice. 

“Sometimes I get super tired but I love getting up early. It gets your entire day started,” said sophomore Natalie Cady. 

Coach Laine and swim team students are extremely excited to swim this year, seeing as how they didn’t get a full season last year. They are hoping for a successful season. Many have indicated that striking the balance between individual accomplishment and creating a team culture will be a priority this season.

“I would define a successful season through individual improvement and developing a strong team bond,” said Bryar Laine. 

“Individually, a successful season for me is trying my best and hopefully dropping in time. As a team, a successful season is everyone having and a good time and hoping to do it again,” said Cady.

“To me, a successful season means that I have drastically improved from day one. As a team, a successful season means that everyone has put in their best effort all season, and encouraged each other to always do their personal best,” said first-year swimmer, Ceili McMorrow. 

While still in the first week of the season, the entire swim team are conducting their annual pot pie fundraiser to help cover costs of the season.

“The chicken pot pie fundraiser was inherited when I took over the team,” said Coach Laine.  “It is super popular.  Basically, a local company bakes them from scratch, and we sell them for $20 a pie.  Each year we sell about 200 pies.”

Those that would like to place an order are advised to track down a swimmer or they can head to the finance office. The pies will be available for pick up  after school on November 23rd.

The Eagles swim team will begin competition on December 11th when they travel to Sherando High School.