Jacob Shereda, Class of 2015
When I came into the high school as a freshman, I didn't really have many friends in my grade, because I had been taking advanced classes for a few years, advanced as such that I only saw my (freshman) classmates for about half the day. When freshman water polo started, it was nice to see all the familiar faces of the upperclassmen that I had taken classes with before, and since we spent so much time together (in and out of the pool), that was the friend group I associated myself with. Without this group of friends, I do not know if I would have become the person I am today. After going through the long hardships and great successes of both the water polo and swim seasons, we created bonds with each other that would not have been possible without this aquatics program. I became even better friends with those people that I had known, but not yet really “known”, for years, because of Hudsonville aquatics.
I think that the aquatics program has also helped me to learn to set and achieve goals. During the swim season, there is a certain thrill in beating the times you have set in the races before, and this is a good reason to learn to set goals. You have to tell yourself, “OK, I’m going to drop a quarter of a second or a tenth of a second in my next race”, and you then train towards that. In my freshman year, the first time I swam the 100 butterfly, I wasn't looking forward to it. I went a 1:05.69, and I got many compliments from people saying that I did well and that I should continue to swim it for the next few meets. At the next meet, I dropped almost a full second. At this point, I think the idea popped into my head, “Why not try and break a minute? You’re so close, anyways...”. This was the goal that I trained myself towards during that season. And, because my teammates and coach were behind me and supporting me all the way, I think I pushed towards it even more. On the second day of the conference meet, I went a 59.01, and was extremely satisfied with my performance. We actually had a team meeting in the last few weeks before our conference meet this year, to tell all our other teammates what our goal was at conference, and they would help us stick to it. I believe that, because of the size of our swim team, and the closeness of its members, this support really helps us succeed in any goal that we set.
Jacob Shereda
Class of 2015
I think that the aquatics program has also helped me to learn to set and achieve goals. During the swim season, there is a certain thrill in beating the times you have set in the races before, and this is a good reason to learn to set goals. You have to tell yourself, “OK, I’m going to drop a quarter of a second or a tenth of a second in my next race”, and you then train towards that. In my freshman year, the first time I swam the 100 butterfly, I wasn't looking forward to it. I went a 1:05.69, and I got many compliments from people saying that I did well and that I should continue to swim it for the next few meets. At the next meet, I dropped almost a full second. At this point, I think the idea popped into my head, “Why not try and break a minute? You’re so close, anyways...”. This was the goal that I trained myself towards during that season. And, because my teammates and coach were behind me and supporting me all the way, I think I pushed towards it even more. On the second day of the conference meet, I went a 59.01, and was extremely satisfied with my performance. We actually had a team meeting in the last few weeks before our conference meet this year, to tell all our other teammates what our goal was at conference, and they would help us stick to it. I believe that, because of the size of our swim team, and the closeness of its members, this support really helps us succeed in any goal that we set.
Jacob Shereda
Class of 2015