A Letter to the DHS Swimming Class of 2015

It hadn’t really struck me that swimming would ever end. Once you’re about halfway though the season, it just becomes part of your life, for better or for worse. It wasn’t until about five weeks ago that I remembered the team and I were not going to be swimming together forever.

I put a countdown in my assignment notebook for the bittersweet end when I recalled it existed. Sectionals are next week, but because I have the orchestra trip to New York, the countdown is over for me. (And the majority of the team whose last swim was either senior night or conference.)

Swimming ending is something I knew I wanted to write about in this Patch column, but I didn’t know how. There is a lot to say, too much to say. Swimming has been a significant chapter in my life and that has been a source of some anxiety when deciding how to write this. So I started taking suggestions and one in particular felt like it would do as much justice to swimming and would be the best way to focus my many thoughts right now. 

The suggestion was to write a letter. To whom though? I could write it to my younger brother I was lucky enough to have on the team this year and who really impressed me. I could write it to the whole freshman class of swimmers who did an incredible job and were a pleasure to be around. I thought about writing to my fellow seniors or maybe even coach, but I know who would benefit most from what I have to say about swimming. 

I hope everyone enjoys reading this and learns something about the crazy group of Deerfield students: the swimmers. However, this letter is really for the future swimmers of the Deerfield High School Swimming and Diving Team.

Dear DHS Swimming Class of 2015,

Words can’t describe how excited I am for you all. My four years on the swim team have been the greatest highlight of my high school career and I know it can be that way for anyone. The swim team gives as much as it gets, and it demands an incredible amount from its members. 

I want to write to you as someone who has given his all and benefited beyond my wildest dreams. I want to write to you to encourage you do the same while letting you know what it is you are getting in to. 

First and foremost, you are in for some extraordinarily hard work, both mentally and physically. Two-a-day practices (neither of them being remotely easy) and four-hour winter break practices are not things that are always without pain. Hearing this before my freshman year might have given me some second thoughts. 

So why do I share this? Because every practice and every race, no matter how exhausting, is a meaningful opportunity to learn about yourself and grow. In some practices, you will reach your limit and back off. Let that one failure inspire you to grab hold of the opportunity the next day to reach your limit and push past it. In these moments the hard work means something. When you swim a best time because of it, you realize this. I wish nothing more in this moment than to have another opportunity to do that. 

It wasn’t until this year I truly embraced this sentiment and discovered that discipline has tremendous value to me. It’s a lot to ask for you to work as hard as is possible and as it expected every practice, but I tell you now that hard work gets you through the most difficult parts of season. Those who quit don’t find work hard and the difficulty unbearable; they avoid hard work and fail to be encouraged by those doing it all around them.

I think you’ll find it is easy to be inspired and encouraged by the swim team. We’re a quirky and outgoing group of people. It’s a supportive and fun environment to be in. We have dress up days for home meets and more inside joke than you could fathom. We know when it is time to focus, but also that it is possible to hear something hilarious during the seventh set of fifty sit-ups during a dry land practice and crack up. 

Enjoy these moments, Chipotle every Wednesday, breakfast after morning practice, and brunches after winter break practices. Enjoy bus rides and sitting and cheering on deck during meets. Enjoy making new friends. (There were some people on the team my first year I would never think I would call my best friends. But they are.) 

Finding your place on the team will be easy, surprisingly so. For your hard work and personality, you will be appreciated and accepted no matter what. You’ll learn traditions and the swimmer’s way of life and you’ll learn fast. Being a part of the team, something big and great, is an incredible experience. However, some of the most important advice I can give you is not to completely lose yourself in the context of the team. 

The team is almost always responsible, thoughtful, mature, and nurturing. But if you see something that isn’t, know that this isn’t what Deerfield Swimming is all about and have the strength to say something to coach or an upperclassman you trust. That courage is admirable. Be a leader and allow others to lead as well. Things are at their best when everyone steps up.

So step up now. Do off-season training. (One of my biggest regrets was slacking in this crucial area). Encourage others to join. Be healthy and get excited. In these coming years, you will hear coach talk a lot about opportunity. You have hundreds of great ones ahead on the swim team. Take full advantage of them. 

I wish you all nothing but the best,

Sincerely,

Jacob Perlson

DHS Swimming Class of 2011