By David Goldman, Sports Editor
While students stayed home to relax over their winter breaks, Gettysburg swimming came back to campus to get to work. However, their early return included a week-long training trip to Delray Beach, Florida. Here, they still practiced their craft but did so under 80 degree rays and just minutes away from the beach.
Early on Jan. 5, the Bullets packed the buses and journeyed to Reagan National Airport for their flight down to the Sunshine State. Once settled in, the swimmers began their training regime, and it was by no means easy. A typical day for the squad started with an 8 a.m. wake up call, followed by a hotel breakfast and then on to the buses to Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The team practiced at FAU every day in a long course pool, which is double the length of the Bullets’ usual training pool.
After they arrived, they practiced for two hours and then were given free time when they arrived back at the hotel. The team would take this opportunity to catch up on sleep and to eat, and beach time was limited due to bad weather for the majority of the week. Around 4 p.m. each day, the Bullets would load up the buses again and go back to FAU for their second practice of the day. After another two hours of training, the swimmers would return to the hotel. Some would cook dinner in their rooms, while others would go out to eat before calling it a night.
Members of the Gettysburg College swim team during their Florida training trip. (Photo Provided)
Alex McDonnell ’26 said that his favorite part was the post-practice meals he and his roommates would make: “We would get the music going and chef up and have a nice family dinner together, which was always nice.”
In addition, each class had the chance to go out to dinner with each other, which was especially sentimental for the seniors on the team. For captain Natalie Wisniewski ’24, her nights always ended with some ice cream.
Although the week was a nice change of scenery and gave the swimmers plenty of bonding opportunities, it certainly was draining.
“The hardest part of the trip was keeping a good mentality towards the end of the week as we got more tired,” said Wisniewski. Captain Declan Sheeran ’24 added that it was hard “staying motivated practice after practice especially with a lack of sun and a lot of rain most days.”
“The practices were the hardest we do all year and the turnaround from morning to afternoon practice, and then evening into another morning practice was exhausting and required a lot of mental fortitude,” said McDonnell.
When the weather finally did get better, the whole team took the opportunity to hit the beach together between practices.
“Spirits were very high after days of [bad] weather and hard training. We were all pretty down bad so that saved us,” said McDonnell.
The Bullets left Delray Beach on Jan. 12 and returned to Gettysburg to prepare for the rest of the season. The training trip required a lot of focus that was meant to push the swimmers through the second half of the season and to get ready for conferences. Equally important to the training itself was the chemistry that was built upon through the countless hours together in a new environment.
This article originally appeared on page 22 of the February 2024 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
