Splashing into Success

By Casey White
Special to the Johnsonian

While the swim club waits for members of all expertise, Emily Raymonda, club president, swims backstroke. Photo by Sarah Auvil • Special to The Johnsonian

Students stroke life back into campus swim club

The Swim Club is returning to Winthrop University this year after it’s one year absence since the 2009-2010 school year.

Emily Raymonda and Jenna McAbee, who are the Swim Club president and vice president respectively, have been the two who’ve spearheaded the reactivation of the club.

Raymonda, who has been swimming competitively for 10 years, felt it was necessary to start the club. She thought it would be a good idea to have a club that would allow students to train and practice swimming together.

“I was drafted into it by Emily,” McAbee said about how she got involved in the reformation of the club. McAbee has been swimming for fun for years, but took a swimming class and learned more swimming techniques last year.

“The club won’t be completely competitive,” Raymonda said. “It’s a club for people who enjoy to swim.”

The two leaders hope that their club will gain swimmers of all levels, from novice to expert.

The club’s long-term goal is to eventually begin hosting swim meets and travel to swim meets at other schools.

One of the other goals of the swim club is to help those who are newer to the world of competitive swimming improve their technique. At practice they hope to assign lanes based on skill and give extra help and teach better technique to those who are new and interested in learning.

So far Raymonda and McAbee response they have gotten for the club. About 35 students have expressed interest in joining the club. While they aren’t sure how many people will actually show up to practices, they hope to have at least 10 solid members coming to practice consistently.

Raymonda and McAbee started to build excitement and gain interest for the club by walking around campus simply asking students ‘do you like to swim?’  At the clubs and organizations fair, they even wore swim caps and goggles in order to attract attention and get those interested in swimming to come to their table.

McAbee says that another main goal of the club is to be able to maintain the members that join. After the first year, Raymonda hopes that the numbers will start to increase.

One of the toughest setbacks for the two in their journey to reactivate the club has just been the paperwork, meetings and work that it takes to start a club.

“I feel like every time we take one step forward, we take two backwards,” Raymonda says. “You turn in one form, and it seems like they give you three others.”

Raymonda and McAbee encourage students who are interested in the Swim Club to start helping now, because they say it’s hard for just the two of them. They would like those interested to help in any way possible.

Although completing the paperwork and going through the motions of starting a club has been tough, it has in no way stopped Raymonda and McAbee.

 “I’m optimistic,” McAbee said. “Hopefully after the first meeting and once we get people to join it’ll get easier.”

“We will be official,” Raymonda said. “I can guarantee that.”

Once the club gets started they hope to host practice once or twice a week depending on how often they can book the West Center pool.

Raymonda and McAbee encourage anyone interested in swimming to get involved with the club by either e-mailing the club at swimclub@winthrop.edu or by joining their Facebook page by searching Winthrop Swim Club.