Shouts from the Stands: Taper is the Best Part of Swimming

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Today’s Shouts from the Stands comes from Sweet Briar College senior Caroline Shepard. She is a three-time CSCAA All-Academic swimmer.

Taper is the best part of swimming, hands down. You’re fit, fast, and swimming significantly less yardage on longer intervals. It’s pretty amazing.

Unfortunately, this will be my last taper which makes me fear my impending retirement as this might be the most in shape I will ever be for the rest of my life. More realistically, this will probably be the fastest I will be at swimming the rest of my life.

I decided to swim in college because I wanted to see how far I could take my swimming. How much faster could I get? What races am I really good at? In high school, I was on a team of 75 swimmers sharing 5 lanes. Doing the math, that’s about 15 people per lane. I don’t think I was able to swim a complete lap because of the shear amount of people in the lane. And with that many people, I didn’t get much attention from the coach or get to swim a variety of events. I mostly kept to breaststroke. For most of that time, my swimming didn’t improve.

I was frustrated with myself because I knew I could do better, be faster if only given the opportunity. So, I started training harder with new coaches and putting in the extra hours weightlifting and conditioning. And one day, I ended up at my first collegiate practice, praying that I would be able to keep up with the rest of the team. Looking back on it now, I shouldn’t have worried as much as I did. I had found the right team and they were willing to give me the chance I was looking for.

So as the last ODAC Champs and the last meet I will swim in, I am starting to feel the pressure. For me, this meet will determine how far I took my swimming. The countless hours of training, the early mornings, the doubts, the pain, the tears over the past four years comes down to this.

The little 11-year-old that had just started swimming at her community pool is looking at me. The 14-year-old, elated that she just made her high school team, is looking at me. The 16-year-old, collapsed on the floor in pain from her first early morning lifting session, is looking at me. The 18-year-old that just swam her first 400 IM in her first collegiate meet is looking at me. They are looking at me as if to say, “Don’t let our work be in vain.” So I swim this meet for them. To assure them that their hard work meant something and to assure myself that the sacrifices made were worth it in the end.

The 21-year-old self answers back, “Leave it to me.”