A Day in the Life of a Highschool Swimmer

Sports tend to be a very popular extracurricular among the highschool student body. Some athletes join to enjoy playing during their highschool years, make more friends, and create memories, but others take it as an opportunity to build their skills even further and get the chance to continue playing in college. These dedicated athletes demonstrate a daily routine of working on their skills, maintaining a specific diet specifically for their body and needs, while still attending school and having extra time for their hobbies and social life. Sports like football, volleyball, basketball, might come to mind right away but swimming tends to be forgotten even though these athletes put in the same amount of hard work, sometimes even more.

Lauren Field, a current junior at Glenbard South, has been a swimmer and can be considered among the dedicated side of high school athletes. She’s currently a backstroker and a breaststroker. Her usual mornings start at 6:15am with a normal breakfast consisting of a bagel and some fruit. Her mornings look a bit different during the summer since she gets up at 4:15am, gets ready for her morning practice, and eats applesauce with either cereal or a protein bar. She makes sure to start every morning with breakfast to maintain her energy levels and allow her to feel prepared for the day. Once at school, Field makes sure to always pack a lunch with lentil soup and a protein bar along with some popcorn, applesauce, and a choice of fruit. She mentioned how protein is an important factor in her diet, so the lentil soup and protein bar are important. Field only consumes meat for dinner, after all her practices are over.

During a normal school day, Field hurries to get out of the building and parking lot as soon as she can since her afternoon practices start at 3:50pm and tend to end around 5:20pm to 5:45pm (depending on what the practice consists of for that day). After a few hours of not eating, Field makes sure to have a snack as soon as she arrives home from school. Her go-to’s include fruit and nuts, which are light and just right for her upcoming practice. All of her practices are structured into sections which focus on specific areas and drills. Field’s favorite practices are on Thursdays, specifically because they’re the “shortest practice lengths” and are “sprint stroke days”. On top of practice, Lauren is also employed at the YMCA as a swim instructor. She stays after practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays and instructs until the clock hits 8:15pm, signaling the end of her shift.

Tired and sore, Lauren makes her way home to finally have dinner and some rest. Unlike her breakfast and lunch, Field is not as strict with what she consumes for dinner. She mentioned how she will eat pasta most nights with her choice of meat and a protein shake. Field will treat herself with take out once every two weeks, but fruit is consumed nightly. She enjoys spinach salads every other night, and recommends madeline cookies from Costco for dessert!

After a long day of school, practice, and work, Field finds herself being exhausted and burnt out by 8:00pm. An eight hour night’s sleep has been a must for Field, since she needs her energy to be back up by the morning and it allows for her body and muscles to recover overnight. This means that she will go to bed between 9:30pm -10:00pm.

With such a crazy and exhausting schedule, one would think that Field is sleeping all weekend and having some alone time, but she is actually still a bit busy on Saturdays. She gets up and attends her usual Saturday morning practice before instructing swimming lessons at the YMCA until 11:00am. Field arrives home and eats a large breakfast or lunch before taking a two to three hour nap. This nap allows Field to get some extra rest since she does have to wake up early, like on a school day. Most of the time she will do homework, go out with friends, or offer private swim lessons for the rest of her Saturday evenings. Once Sunday rolls around, Field is in full relax mode! She takes the day to sleep in, watch Netflix and study (sometimes still sneaking in private swim lessons). Mostly, Field uses the day to relax and get ready for another new week.

Sometimes one can underestimate the effort students put in daily, even at the high school level. One can observe this through Field’s daily dedication. It definitely takes a lot of effort and time to get used to a routine, which is why support should always be given no matter what level one’s skills might be at. Improvement and progress are always being made.