Did you know that Lakeview Highschool has had a swim team? Most people, when it’s mentioned to them, have no clue it even existed. 

It’s not well known at all because there’s only one to two people on the swim team every few years. Along with the scarce amount of people that are even on the team, Lakeview not having a pool also plays a big role. 

For Lakeview students to even practice, they need to have a pool to practice in. As of right now, students practice at Hubbard’s community pool, which is quite the drive every single day. 

Before people started going to practice at Hubbard’s community pool, they practiced at Warren G. Harding. But as of now, they don’t do that any more and only Warren G. Harding students practice at their own school.

As of now, Lakeview students aren’t the only ones that practice at Hubbard community pool. There are several other schools that go to practice there also. 

They have a program called Kraken which they invite schools in the area to practice. For example Hubbard, Liberty, Girard, Lakeview, Brookfield and McDonald all practice together.

Along with there not being a pool here at Lakeview, there are other complications playing the sport. For example, times.

Competitive swim is a winter sport that takes place within the months November and February. Which also cuts into the same time for basketball season and many prefer basketball over swimming.

Swim practice usually runs from Monday through Friday from 3-5pm, and on Saturdays from 6-8am. It’s a lot of work and time put into this sport. And its hard to make it to practice all the time if you have a job, other curricular activities, or even things like family events.

But if competitive swim is truly something you love and are willing to put in the time into then go for it!

2022 Lakeview graduate Olivia Commins, who was a former member of the swim team says, “My experience on the swim team was the best years of my life. I made friendships that will last forever because of swimming and I don’t know the person I would be today if I didn’t decide to join the swim team. Of course I would have wanted more people to join, the more the better, but swimming is a huge commitment and isn’t the most affordable sport so it’s understandable as to why a lot of people didn’t join. It’s also not the closest commute, so I think that was a huge factor as well. But swimming made me the person I am today and I wouldn’t be as successful as I am right now without it.”

Along with time, swimming is awfully expensive with all the money you have to pay monthly, for the swim suits, caps and goggles, swim bags and to even start the sport. 

Lakeview Highschool’s Assistant Principal Michael Detoro  also had an opinion about the current situation of the swim team. He said, “The OHSAA officially sponsors many sports that I wish we could offer here at Lakeview such as swimming, ice hockey, and wrestling among many others.  However, it is not financially feasible for us to have teams due to facility and equipment needs. That’s the burden a small-ish school like ours has. I think Lakeview’s current situation with swimming is the best of both worlds. Students motivated to swim can join a local club team and still swim under the Lakeview name in OHSAA events.”

Detoro had mentioned students and the OHSAA. By that he means students that do take part on the Kraken swim team will still be considered a Lakeview athlete. 

Lakeview Highschool’s Principal Lawrence Herrholtz had said something along the lines of, “I’d love the idea of there being a swim team and I’d love it if there were more people that’d like to join. I think there would be more people willing to join if they knew more about it and knew where the students practiced. I will do whatever I can to help promote more about the sport.”

Swim isn’t just about swimming in the water for fun, it’s about working hard to become a better swimmer and to do well at meets. But along with that you’ll meet lots of new people and make a lot of new friends. 

Overall it’s a really fun experience, and if you feel you can stay devoted and you really love swim, go for it!