When I walk down the stairs after school, leading to the Huron pool, I sometimes think to myself, ‘Do I really want to be here right now? It’s been a long day, and I feel tired already.’ When I look at what I have to swim for practice that day, those thoughts sometimes get reinforced. But when I walk in the locker room and hear the sounds of my teammates inside, I remember that I’m not just here to swim laps. Fifteen minutes later, I’m in the pool, reminding myself that the reasons I keep swimming are always there, swimming in the next lane over.
During the 2024-2025 school year, over 8.2 million American high school students participated in high school athletics, according to a survey by NFHS. Zooming in on Michigan, there were nearly 300,000 participants, ranking Michigan eighth in America. The AAPS high schools also have fairly high athletic participation.
Throughout elementary school, I had a general idea of what kind of person I wanted to be when I was a teen, such as what high school I wanted to attend and what classes I wanted. Many activities are opened up at the high school level, so there are more options than ever for extracurriculars. How I would continue to swim had never crossed my mind, even though it was a regular activity I had been part of since kindergarten.
Competitive swimming was a yearly routine. When I first expressed an interest in swimming, my parents found some local swim clubs that would be fun and would give a good team experience. In the summer, I would swim for my local public pool’s swim team, the OHAC Gators. In the fall and winter, I would swim for a team like the Ann Arbor Octopods. At the end of practice, we played a game in the pool almost every week and got time at swim meets to talk to each other. I was having fun, and I was definitely getting better at swimming.
Once I got into high school, things changed. One factor my parents always consider when choosing an activity is its community. My friends from the Octopods team wanted to swim on high school teams. If I stayed behind, I would have a few friends who were my age and a lot who weren’t even teenagers. I would be able to connect with a few people, but it wouldn’t be the best team environment. So, my parents pushed me to be part of a high school team for the 2025-2026 winter season.
I joined the closest high school swim team available: Huron High School’s team. I reminded myself that I already knew three out of the 22 others on the team. Still, it sometimes felt uncomfortable knowing that almost everyone, even if they were new to the team, went to the same school and knew the other swimmers already. Learning people’s names took time, and I was often in the dark about past swim seasons and certain Huron classes, people or teachers that most knew about.
Another challenge that presented itself more quickly was the practice times. I normally went to practice about five hours a week. At Huron, I go to practice for upwards of 12 hours a week. Practice is also harder due to the length, intensity and the fact that practice was for all grades, not just mine. After some practices, I felt completely defeated, especially since I’d been out of the house from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thankfully, I was able to overcome both major challenges. I learned names, and even if I didn’t have the strongest connections with everyone, I still felt like an established member of the team. I shared good times with everyone, cheered them on at swim meets and participated in activities like fundraisers and banquets before the swim championships. Practices got easier with time. We swam less at each practice to save energy for the championships. In the end, I had a really fun and rewarding time as part of this new team. I learned that it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, reinforcing a lesson I’ve seen in my life before.
Even if you don’t think of yourself as athletic, joining any kind of active group is good for your health and social life. High school teams are just one of the most extreme forms of this. Once I settled in, I found the team a great experience. I got to make friends with like-minded people and push our bodies to the limit—together.
