Last weekend I had the opportunity to get back together with some of my old Southwest Swimming & Diving teammates again. I say again because in August we had just had our every three year swim team reunion at the home of the Lukes, Brian is the very successful head coach of Stillwater High School.
So here we were back at our Alma Mater. It has been 30 +years and we still use the same nick names, still laugh about the same road trips to far away pools, still talk about Coach Palm with the same respect and fondness. The others that are back for Homecoming point and say " swimmers". We laugh together and get to talk to Coach Eckstrom (Diving) who was at both the team reunion and the 2010 Homecoming. His son received one of the Achievement awards. Four years of living, swimming, competing and yes studying created a very strong bond.
We were at the 2010 Homecoming because two of our teammates were receiving Alumni Achievement awards. Even after 30 years we now walked around campus like we still owned it. In the day we did. We were 5 times Conference Champions, hosted the National Championships at our pool 4 times, placing as high as 6th in the nation in 1976. Our pool facility was one of the best in the Midwest, better than the University of Minnesota. We had 18 All Americans named in just 9 years of competition. One of my classmates from Burnsville High School visited me my Senior year. As we walked across campus, everyone was saying hi to me as we walked by. He asked me, “Do you know everyone here?” “Well, “, I said, “I know a lot of them, but they all know me”. No wonder, we had packed stands at our meets, more than the football and the basketball teams. They broadcast our swim meets on the local radio station. At the beginning of home meets, we always entered the pool in the dark lining up at the end of the pool. To the building crescendo of the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWnmCu3U09w a spotlight slowly illuminated our team reflecting off of the pool surface until it became full intensity at the climax of the music. Everyone in the stands went crazy and we started the meet pumped up.
In 1974 even Sports Illustrated had learned about us and paid a visit. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088269/index.htm
I say all this as some of you are considering colleges. I say consider continuing your swimming or diving in college. For students, it is a great augmentation of your college experience. It can be as pervasive or impacting as you choose, but it is always there. For Parents, it is another safety net, a coach and teammates looking out for your daughter or son. But, as I relived last weekend, it is memories, it is friendships, and as my teammates that received Alumni achievement awards last year and this year can attest to, it can be destiny shaping.
Coach Palm
Coach Eckstrom - Diving Coach
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