Swimming South for the Winter

Friday, December 18

Boca Raton, Fla.

All Day

James Madison University

Alabama (Florida Training Exh.)

1/21/2010 9:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By Alli DiMartino

On Dec. 14-22, the JMU swimming and diving team took a lesson from Mother Nature and flew south for their annual winter training trip in Boca Raton, Fla. The trip gave the women an outdoor training opportunity, competition with others schools, and some time to bond as a team.

The team trained at an outdoor Olympic facility with ten lanes of 50 meters and 22 lanes of 25 yards, standard NCAA length. The divers were able to practice on both springboard and tower diving boards. The team was fortunate to have three sunny days, followed by some rain and cold temperatures. But bad weather didn't interfere with the tight training schedule.

“Their days are consumed with wake up, swim, lift, eat, swim, sleep,” said head swimming coach Samantha Smith. “The girls aren't in school, so we can take full advantage of all hours of the day for training and recovery. They don't see much more than the pool and the weight room.” The team was able to go out to dinner and the movies, but Smith believed their greatest bond was enduring the rigorous training together.

Smith said the team greatly benefitted from the long-course outdoor training and the opportunity to be around other schools. JMU competed in a pentathlon against Alabama and trained in the same facility as Ohio State, No