The Black and White

by Jillian Mastrostefano

A climb from division four to division three leads Pilgrim’s swim team into a competitive season open to new hopes and new goals. With several second place achievements from past years, the team is left with higher expectations and an even higher ambition. 

Pilgrim’s swim coach, Dori LaBella, mentioned the team’s great number of players–including students from Tollgate along with Pilgrim–and even greater depth, this being a huge part of the team’s efficiency as a whole. Although this year, LaBella states a bigger focus on individual skills, claiming this year’s goal is “to improve swim times and get everybody so that everyone can swim every stroke and every event.” With such a team and such a goal, it’s exciting the various sections this large group is capable of scoring in. Improving the swimmers individually improves the team as an entirety. 

This team not only focuses on their swimming, but also their community within the group, creating an environment that opens improvement for every swimmer and shows that they care about more than just winning. From junior captain Taylor Mooney, “As a captain I think it’s very important to create a good community for the girls because I think that as long as you have a good environment to be able to work, you can help push each other to the next level and help everybody succeed.” It’s amazingly rare to see a team prioritize the skill and art of their players over the need to win, but this group proved that that is what loving a sport and being a part of a team is truly about. 

It is always incredible to see a team constantly working to get better, not only as individuals, but as a team, especially in a sport such as swimming where everyone matters. The Pilgrim swim team has only just begun their season and their performance is highly anticipated. It will be entirely captivating to see how this tougher division treats them, but there is no doubt that they are up for the challenge. Only through growing independently and dependently will this team continue to succeed.