For swim and dive, healthy eating, frequent hand-washing and 10 p.m. bedtimes have all been on the mind since competing against Stanford and Cal.
These extra precautions aren’t without cause – after returning from the Bay Area, swim and dive caught a bad case of the flu, an illness that affected about a third of the team as well as a few coaches.
“For us, we swim nine times a week, so if you miss two days, that’s four practices. And these kids (are) losing four or five days,” said swim coach Cyndi Gallagher.
Fortunately, the swimmers have been supportive of each other; as some return to the pool from sickness or injury, their teammates have been encouraging them to gradually rebuild to their racing best.
“We’ve really come together as a team more; when someone’s injured, we’re backing them up, so that it’s easier for them to come back,” said senior swimmer Karoline Sanderud.
The flu hasn’t fazed the team. Glad to get the illness out of the way now, the team has shifted its focus to mental stamina, especially with USC, Pac-12 Championships and NCAA Championships just on the horizon.
“At this point, their training is done, so it’s just the mental game. … It’s all about competitive greatness, being at your best when your best is needed,” Gallagher said. “At least the list of good things is getting bigger and the list of things that can change is getting smaller.”
With the majority of the team at its physical peak, mental training has been a major focus at this point in the season. In addition to normal work on racing starts and turns, the women have been working on thinking less and clearing their minds – practice for the 10 critical seconds leading up to each race.
The dive team exhibited a similar mental focus that it hopes will translate into intimidating results for the last few meets.
“The team goal is … to set (ourselves) up well for going into conference, (so) when other teams look at the results they kind of (think), ‘Oh wow, look at UCLA,’” said senior diver Maggy Boyd.
Still, Gallagher said that the women – especially the seniors – must cope with the idea that the end is near, that the season is winding down. However, she is confident that if the team is mentally secure, it will be able to reach its full potential.
“The people that spend the time focusing on the details – and mental preparation is a huge detail – they’re the ones that are going to figure it out and bust the glass ceiling,” Gallagher said. “They’re the ones that are going to perform at the highest level.”
Email Zureiqat at szureiqat@media.ucla.edu.