Pete Deaver ~ Guest Writer
The University of Lynchburg swim club made a transition into a varsity team and started a long journey toward success this semester.
At the beginning of that journey, some of their fellow teams hopped on Twitter to celebrate. The first team to do so was the Lynchburg Women’s Basketball team in response to a tweet that the swim team sent out about the first day of their season.
Not long after, Lynchburg’s Men Lacrosse followed suit and sent a tweet of their own, congratulating the team on their first day of the season.
The teams are not the only ones showing their support. Local ABC 13 sports reporter, Dave Walls, got a chance to visit the team at one of their practices and voiced his support in a subsequent tweet.
About the transition from club to a varsity team, the Director of Men’s and Women’s Swimming, Coach Brad Dunn, says that they were able to recruit 23 new swimmers, 20 of which are current freshmen and three who are transfer students.
Dunn said, “I think that move from club to varsity shows a lot about the culture and community at Lynchburg and what we want our team to be.”
Coach Dunn’s strategy for the year is to set a good groundwork for the team and to keep them focused for a long winter season.
“We’re a winter sport but we’re starting here in early September. We don’t have our championship meet until the first week of February. And so it’s a long season and it’s a challenge for coaches to keep everyone engaged, to manage our training, to manage our goal setting, and then also to keep it fresh,” continued Dunn.
Brandon Goddin, a swimmer on the team who was an active member of the club pre-transition speaks about his appreciation for the structure.
“I like it just because it’s organized. We have a coach now, we have a weight lifting schedule in the morning, we just have basically everything you need to be successful. Last year we had fun but we weren’t trying to aim for anything crazy. This year we’re trying to get better and we have some goals for the team. It’s good to have goals and it’s good to have an organization to get to those goals.”
There are three home competitions this year, on Oct. 18, Nov. 9, and Jan. 16, so come out and show your support for the new team.
The swim team has a tweet pinned to their twitter for those who would like to get involved.
You can also contact Coach Dunn at dunn_bj@lynchburg.edu.