The Revere High School (RHS) swim team is having its second annual alumni meet after taking a hiatus due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The alumni meet has the coaches and team members invite graduates to swim in an unscored meet against the current RHS swim team.
Julia Grandon, a 2024 Revere graduate and past swim team captain, is competing in this year’s meet. Grandon and both of her older brothers were swimmers on the team.
“They brought [the alumni meet] back my senior year after a lot of pressure. We had it when my brothers were in high school, and eventually we were going back to full meets, [so] we [brought] back the alumni meet,” Grandon said.
After Grandon graduated she joined the Bowling Green club swim team. She said she is having fun on the team and recommends it to anyone who wants to continue swimming, without the stress of an everyday commitment.
Revere Middle School English teacher Annie Lochridge has led the team as head swim coach for two years. Beside her stands assistant coach Chris Morris, and, together, they are able to combine resources to set up the alumni meet.
“I think it’s established that [the alumni meet] is always the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it’s just kind of known. I do have some contact information for some folks, and then other times, it’s just word of mouth. The kids who are still on the team tell their friends who’ve graduated. My assistant coach, he’ll remind his people. . . [and] we will post things on social media,” Lochridge said.
Grandon says that a good number of alumni show up at the event. In the past, her brothers would spread the word about the meet and try to get as many friends, parents or staff members to support the event. Lochridge explained the numbers they have had in the past.
“Ten actually swam the past two years. And then we also have parents or folks who just want to come back but don’t compete in the meet. So I don’t know. Maybe ten to twenty folks [end up swimming],” Lochridge said.
Sophia Eldridge, a senior captain, talked about the importance of team bonding and how it carries over into the meets like the alumni meet did. Bringing the team together creates stronger bonds between the members.
“We just will go to a restaurant or other little team bonding [activities], and the bleaching party, which happens over Christmas break, where the guys bleach their whole heads. But something that not a lot of people might know is usually girls, including myself, will bleach a small part of our hair too,” Eldridge said.
The standard of team bonding in the RHS swim community carried over with Grandon to the college pool. The RHS swim team makes forming connections with each other a high priority.
“[Team bonding] definitely helped me feel more comfortable at the meets. Knowing that it was not a bunch of people I was in the water with, but people that I knew outside of the pool,” Grandon said.
The meet is for forming connections with the team, but it is also used to help first-year members get comfortable with the setup of a meet. The swim society uses the title “inter squad meet” for the event, and the team members compete against each other, but they do not score or count it in a team record.
“This [alumni meet] is our first trial run. . . . There are a lot of kids who’ve never competed. This is their first meet. So it’s . . . like a dress rehearsal run-through. And then it’s also an opportunity for us, for our volunteers and our parents to test the computer, to test the scoreboards, [and] for the kids to practice racing again because you kind of forget it. You get a little rusty,” Lochridge said.
There are various ways to run an inter squad meet. While making a lineup for an alumni meet, the coach has to take into consideration the events an alumni swimmer would want to swim. The alumni swim because they enjoy it, not because they want to stay in shape or compete.
“Last year, our captains helped me split up the team, and then they did a lineup. And then, I sent out a Google form, and I asked the alumni what they’d be interested in doing. And then I just save spots, like extra heats for them if they’d like to jump in. We’ve scored it like red versus blue. But I believe in the past, they’ve also done alumni versus current career athletes,” Lochridge said.
This year, the alumni meet will be run as red versus blue. The alumni meet will take place from 3:15-5:15 on Friday, November 29, at Lifestyles Fitness Center.
