Fontbonne Hall Academy’s Varsity Swimming Team off to a Good Start

Kareena Joseph '23

Fontbonne's Varsity Swim team is made up of about 27 swimmers. But funny enough, the team lacks junior swimmers, which might be complicated for the team when the class of 2023 graduates. But aside from having this problem within the team, they managed to come out victorious in their first meet.

Swim meets are typically held at Saint Francis College in downtown Brooklyn. However, due to their pool being renovated, this is not the case this year. Currently, meets are being held at various places, including: Saint Sabastian, a parish center in Queens, Queens College, and the College of Staten Island.

For their first meet, they swam at Saint Sebastian. Sabrina Lockley, one of the captains of the swim team, spoke about how she felt about these changes, "Because we have had meets there every weekend since our freshman year and I have become accustomed to that pool, I will miss swimming at Saint Francis College. If Fontbonne didn't provide transportation to these meets, it would be more difficult to go there, especially because many of the meets we now have are either in Queens and Staten Island. But aside from that, I like the swimming pools we use, and it's intriguing to know that every meet we have is held in a different location, from Queens to Staten Island."

Aside from that, the first meet was a lot of fun for the whole team. Our team has had a good and friendly relationship with Saint Savior High School because we train with them on Tuesdays from 8 to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Attending a Fontbonne swimming competition, or even participating in one, is a fantastic experience. Thanks to the tremendous sportsmanship and everyone saying "good job" to each other, even when you are in last place, it is a great feeling which made this meet exciting and worthwhile.

But the swimming team's work is not done yet; this is not their final meet for October. The team will face Xaverian High School in their second meet on Sunday, October 23, 2022. The team has not participated in a meet at The College of Staten Island previously, so this competition might be challenging. Given how competitive Xaverian is, it might potentially harm the swimming team's promising start.