The Oakdale Boys Swim Team is one of the many competitive teams at Oakdale. Winning numerous County championships and being 3 time Conference champions, the team has been very successful throughout the years. Even though they lost some of their best swimmers, there’s been a surge of new swimmers who are rising to the top to reach their full potential.
Junior Brent Eagen, who has been swimming for around ten to thirteen years, is one of the many swimmers on the team who enjoys the thrill that comes with swimming and the team bond behind it. “Being on the team is a lot of fun because there’s a lot of team camaraderie and spirit.”
After trying many sports when he was younger, swimming has stuck with Eagen the most. The connections he has made along the way are especially important to him, including meeting many people from school. He emphasized, “I like being able to swim with people from school and establishing those connections with people that I might not have met if it weren’t for swimming.”
The one thing that really seems to bring the team together is the bond that the team has. Junior Kennan Vance really enjoys the team’s connection, mentioning that it has helped him grow as a swimmer: “I’ve been [swimming] for a really long time and I’ve made so many friends over the years that it’s really fun to just learn and grow and get faster alongside them and to see myself accomplish my own goals.”
While many of the swimmers enjoy the bond, many agree that the sport can get hard. Freshman Josh Lamm, a new swimmer on the team, ranked the difficulty of swimming on a 1 to 10 scale, declaring it’s “probably a 10.” However, Vance disagrees with putting it on a scale, and notes that “swimming is as hard as you make it.”
Coaches play a key role in helping swimmers push through challenges and give them insight on what they could work on. The current head coach, Damon Allen, has been coaching for over eight years and has been coaching with Oakdale for about four years. Allen enjoys seeing the swimmers gain progress in seeing their goals and reaching their potential.
“I enjoy helping the swimmers grow and reach their potential as much as they can, [and] encourage them, motivate them, help guide them to make their goals, meet their goals, and be successful,” Allen expressed.
Allen further expanded on his love for coaching, mentioning his love for sports and how he likes “to be able to give pointers to help younger and newer swimmers to improve [and] get better.”
When asked about what he would tell the swimmers to keep them motivated, he highlights three Latin words: Veni Natavi Vici, which means “I came, I swam, I conquered.” Allen uses this phrase a lot to help let the swimmers know about the hard work they put in when swimming.
Many of the swimmers on the boys swim team hope to achieve their goals at some point this season. With many new and experienced swimmers on the team, there is more potential in the team than ever before. In fact, February is coming right around the corner, which is where the many boys swimmers will be able to show the hard work they have put in throughout the season at counties.
