Julian Perales, sophomore, waits to hear the whistle blow like everyone else in the quiet gym to start the swim meet competition. His heart is racing, and he’s anxious to do his best and swim his fastest. He’s trying to mentally prepare himself right before the whistle blows to start, and then it goes off.  

  Perales has been on the swim team for two years. Even though he only started swimming at 14 years old, he automatically loved it and he still loves it now. 

   “I’ve always loved swimming and the feeling in the water,” Perales said. “I would definitely want to be on the team next season because I just really love swimming.” 

  Although Perales has a passion for swimming, he does agree that it gets very tiring. 

  “YES!!! It does get tiring swimming every day and it’s exhausting because we practice 4-5 days a week in the morning before school,” Perales said.

Before swim meets, the team prepares mentally and physically both individually and together. 

“We stretch together and come up with a game plan,” Perales said. “Usually the day before swim meets, I have to eat something light, not too heavy, and I have to go to bed early. In the morning I just have to mentally prepare, focus and believe that I’m the best. In order to beat my time, I tell myself that records are meant to be broken.”  

Perales wants people to know the truth about swimming instead of what they might believe.

  “People think it’s a bunch of people wearing Speedos, and that it’s a bunch of people like Michael Phelps,” Perales said. “But most of us don’t wear Speedos and there’s more to swimming than just doggy paddling. We really have to work hard on each swim style, like the butterfly is really hard and you have to have a lot of arm strength to do each stroke, and it gets very exhausting fast.”

  The swim team is more than just a team. To them, they think of each other more like family. They have had a lot of accomplishments and are very proud of each other.  

  “We have learned from our mistakes and gotten better,” Perales said. “We don’t really consider ourselves as just a team, more as a family because after every swim meet, we always go out to eat, and we’re always together. We have so much fun together just outside of our meets and school.”