Outside, the weather is brutal.
The cold December wind bites at your face and stings your eyes. The temperature drops as the Wednesday hours drag on, and a light frost develops on car hoods and windshields.
Inside Lantz Arena at Eastern Illinois University, the heat is at full blast. The lifeguards at Ray Padovan Pool sit high in their chairs listening to top 40 radio, grateful for the shelter.
Despite the miserable conditions, there is still a sense of enthusiasm in the pool area.
Laughing and joking ring out in the pool, resonating throughout the room.
The Charleston High School boys’ swimming team has taken the pool for the night and is practicing for its first meet on Dec. 16.
The hours are late. The weather is terrible. The boys are…having a good time?
Even though the Trojans have their own swim team, they are still without a pool of their own and are forced to rely on neighboring EIU. The only time slot the Trojans can be worked into is a late 8-10 p.m. slot. Still, the team is grateful for what they can get.
“It’s actually quite nice,” Kimbro says. “It’s late – I think it’s late for high schoolers – but if they go home and they take advantage of their time, and they get their studies done, and some of them eat dinner and some of them don’t, but they’re getting all of that out of the way, and by the time they’re done with practice, they’re able to just go to bed.”
And with a large roster, the team is able to create some breathing room and perform better, something that hurt the girls’ team this season.
The Lady Trojans only had six members on their team and were set back with a low placement in IHSA regionals, finishing No. 12 of 18. Because of a small roster, the team was forced to use individuals for more than one event, tiring them out.
For the boys, however, this isn’t a problem. Before practices had even begun, Kimbro projected 14 boys would show up on the roster based on the number of participants at a team rule meeting.
Thirteen boys are now in the water practicing kicking, diving, breathing and a variety of different strokes.
“When you’re talking about swim meets with four girls or six girls, you’re not able to get into the events you’d like to get in, and you’re certainly not able to put in more than one person in every event,” Kimbro says.
Kimbro says a roster of 16 swimmers would get the team into every event they would want to get into. She says a large roster allows the Trojans to get into more events and score more points.
Not one of the boys has a look of malcontent. They’re all thrilled to be in the water, especially senior Michael Bower.
Bower, one of the Trojans’ top swimmers, has been swimming for about 14 years and has even swum in USA Swimming – a premier competitive swimming league – where he swam in two summer meets.
He says one of his favorite parts of the sport is the lack of distraction.
“There’s something about having your head in the water and not having to listen to people scream at you,” Bower says referring to other sports such as soccer.
In between laps, Bower jokes with teammates in his lane – senior Todd Bollinger and junior Jacob Dallas. He cracks wise with head coach Courtney Kimbro; there is no ill will or insubordination in his voice.
The relationship between Kimbro and the boys is far from stand-offish. Kimbro plays along with the boys’ jokes, all the while asserting the authority needed to keep the boys motivated.
Bollinger confirms Kimbro’s claims that the team has a “strong connection.”
“We don’t try and boss people around too much,” Bollinger says. “We know when to set people straight and keep them in line when we need to, just to make sure nobody’s goofing off too much.”
Two lanes over, new swimmers are experimenting to see if they can swim the length of the pool – 25 yards – underwater.
Senior Rashad Aalaei is a first-year swimmer and dives in. Twenty-five yards later, his head breaks the water. It’s an impressive performance, especially for a newcomer to the team. Kimbro and the team are ecstatic, shouting and applauding.
“Rashad’s a natural,” Kimbro says.
For the experienced swimmers’ final exercise, Kimbro hands Bower, Bollinger and Dallas their kickboards, telling them to do several laps back and forth.
Bower speaks up, yelling that he hates kicking and telling Kimbro he’ll whine the whole time; he says this wearing a smile. Kimbro laughs and Bower does his exercises, keeping true to his promise while the lifeguards laugh.
Practice is over and the boys towel off. They toss their kickboards into a nearby bin, grab their bags and head downstairs to the locker room.
Tomorrow is Thursday and the boys will be in the weight room: They won’t even touch the water. They head out into the freezing cold and head home, eager to dive back in on Friday.
2008 Charleston Trojans Roster
Michael Bower – Senior*
Todd Bollinger – Senior*
Rashad Aalaei – Senior
Jacob Dallas – Junior*
Kyle Gruber – Junior*
Aaron Due – Junior
John Lahr – Sophomore*
Nick Vilardo – Sophomore*
Ben Hoover – Freshman
Adam Gann – Freshman
Cam Luedke – Freshman
Max Peterson – Freshman
Thorin Blitz – Freshman
* – returning members
Tags: Charleston Trojans, Courtney Kimbro, Eastern Illinois University, IHSA, Lantz Arena, Michael Bower, Rashad Aalaei, Ray Padovan Pool, Todd Bollinger, USA Swimming
