University of Tennessee Athletics
Road Trip Rants: Taking the Next Step
October 07, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
BY: ROBBY VERONESI
Throughout the season, Tennessee will embark on many road trips to a number of different places across the country. Hopefully, through this ongoing series, everyone can get a glimpse and taste of what Tennessee Swimming and Diving is all about from the road--from the perspective of a first-year Sports Information Director.
The final full day of the 2014 edition of the Wilmington trip has now come and gone, a memory just like the beach before a wave washes it away. Of course, it has felt like this team-bonding/training camp/first road trip has come to such a quick ending, similar to quickly it felt like it showed up on our calendars.
As the bus motors along the same Carolina highways on our way back to Knoxville, it's impossible to see the aisle. Orange bodies cover the floor, while more orange legs stretch across onto the adjacent row. It is silent. Very few people are awake and those that are either have their headphones in or are driving the bus or are catching up writing blog posts.
It's a much-deserved rest, I believe. Considering how much effort, how much intense training, how much energy has been spent by these athletes, coaches, support staff, the rest all the way back to Rocky Top seems like a given obvious. The perfect ending to a weekend which highlighted the exciting potential of the upcoming season in the pool, as well as the exciting potential of this year's squad growing as a team out of the pool.
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Saturday started off early as usual, with both UT and UNCW meeting up once again on the beach just outside of the hotel for an open water swim and run race. No points. No score. Just competition in a friendly environment. While the distance swimmers swam almost four or five miles down to the second pier from our hotel, the sprinters and short distance swimmers swam a shorter way to the first pier, about 1.5-2 miles from the starting line.
"It's a lot of fun to do it, especially in Wilmington," said Evan Pinion. "The waves were bigger than we thought they were going to be, so that made it a little more difficult, but it's a lot of fun just to go out and swim, no scoring or anything."
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In a giant oval/egg/circular shape on the beach, Vol and Lady Vol alike gathered to discuss who Tennessee Swim and Dive is, what their leadership should look like and how this team is going to grow moving forward with the season.
Respect. Versatility. Accountability. Poise. Relentlessness. Commitment. Awareness. Family. Team. Unity. Consistency.
All these words, these ideas, bounce around the circle, all with hints of eagerness to apply these concepts when the team arrives back in Knoxville. It sounds nice and grand now, while we sit on a beautiful North Carolina beach, but one can only hope that this team will truly take these concepts and these discussion topics and own them, connect with them, do whatever it takes to make these work as a part of their daily lives, both in and out of the pool. One can only hope that they remember these ideas and not just leave them with their new memories on the sands of Wrightsville Beach.
"What's going to be important for our team to be able to apply the goals and the mindset that we talked about in Wilmington is to actually take someone by the hand and say, `we have to do this if we want to be number 1,'" said senior Erin Gaeckle. "It's never going to be the most popular decision, but sometimes you have to be the person that just does it. I think there are a lot of people on the team that have already taking the first step in making that decision.
"It's exciting because everyone here is so ready to go. Our freshmen class is amazing and in tune with everything. The freshmen already get what we're talking about and they're already a part of the mindset and the goals that we've been talking about."
"The best part of all this is to see how we work at our first swim meet," said Amy Lubawy, one of those freshmen. "Even just at the end, when we were giving each other high-fives, I was excited about that. It was all the small things. (This trip) will make me less nervous going into our bigger swim meets. It takes a lot of the pressure off knowing that you don't have to rely on yourself. It's definitely a team effort."
*THE NEXT EDITION OF ROAD TRIP RANTS WILL START UP ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, WHEN TENNESSEE HEADS BACK INTO NORTH CAROLINA TO TAKE ON QUEENS IN CHARLOTTE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA IN CHAPEL HILL.
