Teams navigating through a new- look season
During several meets this season, Seymour girls swimming coach Nick Blade has received inquiries from his athletes regarding how their opponent has fared — questions that are not expected during a traditional swim meet.
Yet this fall has been been anything but traditional or typical for all sports teams, with swimming and diving topping the list as having one of the more different looks, due to the COVID- 19 pandemic.
Some schools are holding the traditional, in- person meets, but numerous teams, many of which don’t have pools at their school, are conducting virtual meets, making the 2020 season a unique experience for many swimmers and divers.
Seymour, which competes in the NVL South Region with Naugatuck, Oxford, Watertown and Woodland, has been taking part in both in- person and virtual meets. As of Friday, the Wildcats have participated in three virtual meets and three in- person competitions.
Virtual meets involve opposing teams swimming and diving at their own facilities on the same day. Officials are present at each facility, the team results/ scores are tabulated, then compared.
“We have not been great in the virtual meets,” said Blade, whose team sported a record of 5- 0, heading into its virtual meet against NVL rival Naugatuck on Friday. “It has been tough sometimes, to get up and go. The thrill of beating an opponent that is there with you is not present at a virtual meet.”
Indeed, motivation is one of the issues involving virtual meets the athletes and coach must navigate their way around.
“They have mentioned that it’s tough swimming by themselves, so we are telling them to keep it in their head and that we are still trying to win,” Blade said.
For Friday’s meet against NVL foe Naugatuck, the Seymour athletes donned their faster Tech suits, which are mostly worn during postseason/ championship meets, in order to perform at
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