In a year focused heavily on training for the upcoming Olympics, a weekend of friendly competition sounds like it might be out of the question.
But today, the swimming and diving team takes on the University of Idaho, beginning a weekend of laid-back team activities led by both UCLA coach Cyndi Gallagher and Idaho coach Tom Jager.
“We’re swimming against (Idaho today), and then we’re going to train with them on Saturday,” Gallagher said. “It’ll be a little bit more fun than the usual “˜I hate you’ swim meet.”
For Jager, the weekend will be somewhat of a homecoming. A former UCLA swimmer himself, Gallagher was quick to list off Jager’s athletic accolades, which include seven NCAA championships and two Olympic gold medals.
Gallagher, now in her 20th season as head coach, knew Jager when he was at UCLA.
“He loves UCLA, even though they dropped the men’s team, which is a very sore subject still,” said Gallagher.
The Idaho team only began competition three years ago, and Gallagher praised the fledgling program’s eagerness to travel to swim against her highly competitive, respected UCLA program.
“A lot of (younger teams) don’t want to swim against programs that have been here for a long time,” she said. “We have a lot of respect for Idaho coming out and racing us, because I think the only way they’re going to get better is by racing (better programs), so they’re not intimidated in the future.”
With some pressure off, Gallagher said that the freshmen swimmers would be given more opportunity to showcase their talent and potential to swim events they normally would not get the chance to compete in.
“Racing is racing, even if you’re a butterflier doing backstroke,” she said. “I’m really going to see who they are and what they can do.”
The meet should also be an indicator of where the team will stand when the competition intensifies in November, when the Bruins take on the Arizona schools.
“That’s when the real test comes,” Gallagher said, who also predicted that the University of Arizona will win the NCAA championship this year.
Either way, it is early in a season that doesn’t officially end until March, and with the 2008 Olympics approaching, the training expectations are stretched out even longer.
“It’s a long season,” Gallagher said. “It’s an Olympic year, so people knew what expectations were when they came in. They had to be in great shape and they’re going to be left behind if they’re not.”
ARCHITECTURAL TRIVIA: The afternoon meet will take place at the Student Activities Center, which, along with Royce Hall and Powell Library, is one of the eight original buildings on campus.
Though the 1932 Italian Romanesque structure is praised for its architectural beauty, the pool’s filter system makes the water choppy and less than ideal for racing.