Pooling their efforts
It's 4:45 a.m. when the screeching pulse of the alarm rips Chris Geordiadis from his slumber.
The junior on the Mars boys swimming and diving team desperately wants to roll over and slip back into a peaceful sleep. But something stirs in him that prevents his eyes from shutting again.
“Competitiveness,” Geordiadis says, explaining why morning after dark morning he answers that early wake-up call. “Honestly, it's very hard to wake up. It's very hard to pry those eyes open and roll out of bed. But I like the challenge.”
The feeling Geordiadis gets after winning a 100 breaststroke or swimming a strong leg of a 200 medley relay is what propels him to early morning practices while many of his friends are still fast asleep. Geordiadis was one of five members of the Mars boys swim team that nearly won a state title a year ago. This year, Geordiadis wants to come home with a gold medal around his neck.
To do that, he has to get into the pool at ungodly hours before school — and often get back into the water once classes are over.
Geordiadis is not alone. Swimmers are a different breed because the sport demands time and dedication.
Some of the best in Butler County are more than willing to make the sacrifice.
Geordiadis said he spends an average of 21 hours a week in the pool. Some of the best swimmers in the county spend almost as much time each day in the water as they do at home.
They all do it because they love the sport.
“If a fairy came along and said, 'I can magically send you home right now, or you can finish this set,” said Freeport junior Becca Dudek, “we'd all choose to finish the set, no matter how tempting that would be.
“From the outside, people can't understand it,” Dudek added. “From the inside, you can't explain it.”
Early practices are just as much a part of swimming as the goggles and the caps.“It's a little disheartening setting the alarm for 4 a.m.,” Dudek said.It's a necessity, though, for several reasons.Time in the pool is the only way to get better, many coaches said.“It's an unbelievable amount of time that these swimmers have to spend in the pool,” said Butler swimming and diving coach Dave Bocci. “They are in the pool six days a week and have double swim practices on some of those days. It takes a certain type of individual to do that.”Time is so important because swimming is a sport of strength and precision.Many swimmers log nearly four miles a day in the water — but it is a swim with a purpose.“It's very important to build consistency,” Bocci said. “It's very important to build good habits and stamina and the only way to achieve excellent results is to put the time and the work in.”That means early mornings and late evenings.To Mars senior Maggie Gruber, who has won four WPIAL titles and four PIAA championships, it just goes with the territory. It's just part of the job description.“It's definitely a lifestyle,” Gruber said. “You have to be dedicated to be in this sport.”Gruber had to give up soccer — another one of her loves — in the seventh grade and other extra-curricular activities to focus solely on swimming.To do anything else could have compromised her ability to win those state titles and earn a scholarship to Virginia Tech.She spends a little more than an hour in the pool in the morning three days a week and two more hours in the water after school.Gruber doesn't groan much anymore when her alarm buzzes in her ear at 4:30 a.m.“I just taught myself, 'This is your routine,'” Gruber said. “'This is what you have to do to achieve what you want to achieve.'”For some, logistics make logging practice time even more difficult.<b>No pool in the school</b>Each day, members of the Knoch boys and girls swim teams load onto a bus to drive 20 miles to the Butler YMCA for practice.There is no pool on the Knoch High School campus, so the Knights are forced to find other accommodations.“You look at some of the schools in Butler County like us and Freeport and Mars that don't have their own pool,” said Knoch swimming coach Rick Hassler. “We've still found a way to be successful.”To Hassler, the reason why is easy to ascertain.“They are a great bunch of kids, very coachable and very dedicated to the sport of swimming,” Hassler said.Knoch swims its home meets at Butler High School. Mars practices and holds its meets at Pine-Richland High School.Freeport, though, is relegated to the status of road warriors.The Yellowjackets have no home meets. They are nomads, traveling all over Western Pennsylvania to compete. That puts quite a strain on coaches and athletes alike.“As a coach who is also a swim parent, it's very much a challenge,” said Freeport coach Lori Dudek, Becca's mother.Becca Dudek takes nothing for granted when it comes to her parents. She realizes the great sacrifices they have made to help cultivate her swimming career.Someone has to get her to practice in the wee hours of the morning, after all.“I can't even express how selfless you have to be to get up and do that, for my parents to do that for me,” Becca said. “I can't express my thanks enough to them.”Participation in swimming has taken a dramatic up-tick in recent years. The Olympics and the success of prominent swimmers like Michael Phelps have ballooned the numbers of people interested in aquatics.The demand for pool time will only increase, Bocci said.“Pools are used a lot already. Swimming really is an incredible sport,” he said..Athletes who do have a pool in their schools, like Butler and Seneca Valley, thank the swimming gods for their good fortune.Butler senior Taylor Campbell still answers an early wake-up call, but it would be a lot earlier if the Golden Tornado did not have a pool on campus.“I still get up at 6 a.m., but it's nice having a pool right there,” Campbell said. “I don't have to go anywhere after I'm done. It's very convenient.”Like most swimmers, Campbell spends sometimes 30 hours a week in the water through either practices, meets or time spent with her club team in Saturdays.The rigors are made easier because she had a facility so close.“It would be more difficult for me to get the time in if I had to go somewhere else to swim,” she said. “This is a hard sport. Sometimes you pretty much want to drown yourself halfway through your sets. But you know it is going to help you.”<b>Building bonds</b>Swimmers are close knit. Part of that has to do with the sheer amount of time they spend together. Part of it has to do with the grueling nature of the sport.“Mutual suffering brings people together,” Becca Dudek said, laughing.With so much time spent honing their skills in the water, swimmers have little time to socialize or even study.That's where the group helps out.The Mars swim team received the National Academic Gold Award for a GPA above 3.75. The Planets were the only WPIAL team to achieve that honor, said coach Heidi Brandon.“They help each other,” Brandon said. “They stay after school tutoring each other. We take a lot of pride in that.”“Swimmers all seem to be very, very good students,” Hassler said. “They always have very high GPA.”No matter what the challenges are for swimmers — early mornings, long practices, little free time — all share one important thing.The love for the sport.“If you miss a practice, you just don't feel good,” Geordiadis said. “You just don't feel good about yourself. That's another thing that gets you out of bed so early. It's fun and you love it.”
