Fosburgh pools talents for team
Diana Matthews knew early on that Kate Fosburgh wasn’t going to be your ordinary young swimmer.
“The first time I met her was during a summer swimming program at the Winchester Boat Club,” said Matthews, now the coach at Winchester High. “Kate was about 5 at the time and she comes up to me telling me she wants to swim the butterfly and 100 IM. Most kids that age usually swim about 12 yards.
“But the first time I saw her in the water, she was a natural. It wasn’t just the swimming, but she had that drive.”
It was that drive which pushed Fosburgh through a tough sophomore year. Fosburgh had surgery to remove her thyroid and missed most of the season, returning to swim relays in the sectionals. While Fosburgh didn’t swim in individual events, she took notice of what was going on in her specialty events, the 200-yard and 500-yard.
“I started looking at the times and thinking I can swim those times,” Fosburgh said. “I just came back my junior year and worked really hard. I had a lot of people pushing me, so I knew I could do it.”
The march to glory began in the North sectionals when Fosburgh captured the daily double by winning both 200-yard (1:55.27) and the 500-yard (5:10.37). Not content to rest on her laurels, Fosburgh turned the trick again in the Division 2 state tournament, swimming a championship time of 1:55.58 in the 200 and 5:08.34 in the 500.
“I was pretty shocked right after I did it,” Fosburgh said. “Coming into high school, it’s something I never expected to. To see it happen showed me that a lot of hard work paid off.”
A lot of that extra work occurs in early-morning practice. The Winchester team practices every morning at 5 a.m. at Medford High, and that alarm clock can be pretty cruel at that time of day.
“It’s definitely tough in the morning, especially after a late night with homework,” Fosburgh said. “But the early practices bring us together in a way that’s different from any other team. It really is a special bond.”
The special bond has been created in large part by Fosburgh’s unselfish attitude. Matthews says she is the ultimate team player, something not lost on her teammates.
“The 200 and 500 are her best events, but she hasn’t swum it much in the fall because we’ve needed her in other events,” Matthews said. “She’s never once asked me to be in her events, she always tells me what does she need to do for the team.
“I’m sure if I told her in the sectionals that we needed her in another event that she would step right up and do it.”