The Iowa State Swim Club flaunts a community that provides a fun environment while also allowing students to really push themselves in the water with each individual’s own goals for the season. This explains why 40 people have faithfully joined their club.
The swim club is open to both males and females, and competes against teams from around the country. The club does require a history of water training. This could be swimming, water polo or triathlons. The Cyclones compete in the College Club Swimming (CSS). Meets can range from dual meets, regional meets, all the way up to nationals hosted by the CCS.
The team practices weekly meets typically align with the schedule of a collegiate swim season. The swimmers also make their own practice schedule, which can be a great way to balance life in college in a flexible manner.
Lots of swimmers try to set goals to either stay in shape or to competitively qualify for events by cutting times in different events, ranging from the 50-yard freestyle to the 400-yard individual medley. Coaches are also at practice to help foster improvement in preparation for the meets. Coaches are also very mindful of the label of student-athletes.
“Throughout the whole school year, the club fosters a competitive environment while also allowing students to focus on their studies,” head coach Katelyn Mumper said.
The swim club at Iowa State is a great way to find commonality, especially for freshmen, who may not have as much of a sense of community yet. In a lot of situations, the first community you get exposed to in college as a freshman can be a community that you surround yourself with for the next four years and potentially even longer than that.
“Coming from Wisconsin, I didn’t know anyone at ISU,” freshman Ian Ressler said. “But the swim club opened me up to a great group of people that I have become very close to.”
The swim club has been very successful this year, being able to send people to the national meet that occurs in April, hosted by North Carolina State University, located in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Along with a successful program of sending swimmers to the best meets, starting at practice and providing an atmosphere that will support them, is just as important.
“This year we have 15 national qualifiers,” junior club president Natalie Moran said. “I believe we have a very enjoyable atmosphere both in the pool and out and about at socials, volunteer events and at meets.”
The swim club is a great way to experience travel through the improvement of performance. Several of the swimmers set goals to meet national qualifying times, which drives them each week to get better to face some of the best swimmers in the country for club swimming.
“Often, members set goals to get national cut times so they can compete at a three-day meet in the spring, racing the fastest students within the College Club Swimming program,” sophomore Aaron Sang said.
The swim club is always looking for members. Anyone interested should contact [email protected].
