Going into Thanksgiving break, UCLA women’s swimming coach Cyndi Gallagher gave instructions to her team to do something active.
After all, the team would resume practice the Friday after the big meal.
“Swimming is a 24/7 job,” Gallagher said. “Swimmers definitely have to be athletes 365 days a year.”
Perhaps some motivation to adhere to such a rigorous schedule came from one of UCLA’s greatest, Sue Enquist. Gallagher had Enquist speak to her team before they departed for the Texas Invitational, which will kick off today.
“She talked to the team about the mental side, team-building and positive self-talk for the big meet in Texas,” Gallagher said.
Enquist, now two years retired, coached softball at UCLA for 27 years. Along the way, she became the winningest coach in softball after leading the Bruins to 11 national championships.
Now a guest speaker at camps and clinics, Enquist has firmly put her stamp on her legacy that has emphasized the importance of performing with excellence while maintaining positive, proud, tenacious and resilient attitudes.
“(After Enquist’s talk), we have a little spring to our step,” Gallagher said after Tuesday’s practice. “This is who we are together, and we just need to see continual improvement.”
Top Pac-10 teams, including Arizona and Stanford, will be among a field of competitors in Texas that also includes Southern Methodist, Nebraska and Wisconsin, among others. The swim team had three days of rest after 15 weeks of intense training before flying to Austin, Texas, for the invitational.
“The preparation has paid off, and we’re excited about competing,” Gallagher said.
The meet should be a good evaluation meet, but Gallagher still is most concerned with making sure times improve.
“We are still going there to swim fast, and each one is going to show what they’ve learned the past 15 weeks,” Gallagher said.
Seniors Madeleine Stanton and Anna Poteete and sophomore Emily Bibb will captain the team in Austin, yet Gallagher specifically pointed out that sophomore individual medley swimmer Lauren Hall is ready to up her performance.
“My main emphasis during practice is to keep the intensity up,” Hall said. “I want to try to get my paces up so during a meet situation it will be just as fast if not faster.”
For the freshman swimmers, this will be the first travel meet with the team, and Hall recognized that the team needs to remain cohesive and maintain its composure. Apparently a different environment doesn’t faze seasoned swimmers.
“The water is the same,” Hall said. “It’s the same 25 yards. I know our team will be able to get season or lifetime bests.”
The women’s diving team has also been searching for consistency.
Diving coach Tom Stebbins said that the divers, specifically seniors Tess Schofield and Brittany Hill, have been striking their dives during practice. However, they haven’t found a way to replicate practice dives in meet dives.