By Michael Canfarotta
Swimming tryouts at York College have been a bit unusual this year compared to years past. A lengthy delay in the pool’s opening pushed tryouts back for almost two months and the presence of a new time system has been a pleasant surprise to all those associated with the program.
Head Coach Jennifer Trotman, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams, has not had an easy job so far in the 2011-12 campaign. Tryouts, which usually start in September, had to be pushed back until Oct. 3 because a cracked outdoor pipe was filling York’s pool with sand.
Despite the setback, tryouts have gone according to plan. Six swimmers have joined each team and Trotman is still hoping for more walk-ons to build an even stronger team and improve on last year.
“The goals for this year are, of course, to have a better record than last year, to have more student athletes that come in and can swim,” said Trotman.
The 10-year veteran coach believes that her job of recruiting is even tougher in an urban environment such as Jamaica, where most athletes are playing basketball and running track, not swimming. Many of her athletes have never been exposed to a pool, let alone being on a competitive swim team or a high school swim team.
One of those student athletes without any experience on a swim team prior to arriving at York College is senior Kyle Gomes, who serves as the captain of the men’s team. The movement science major competes in the 500-meter and the 1650-meter, also known as the mile, competitions. He had only positive things to say about the program, which he considers to be a big family. He believes that regardless of experience, everyone should have a chance to get in the pool.
“I feel that swimming should be an important part in society and the fact that they [first-time swimmers] are out here making the effort to do it, why stop them?” said Gomes.
Senior Averie Mohammed, captain of the women’s team, gives all the credit for the improving program to Trotman. Their relationship goes back to before York College. She considers her coach to be not just a teacher in the pool, but a personal friend.
“She always has my back with anything and she motivates me,” said Mohammed.
With most of the personnel in place, the last piece of the puzzle was the addition of the new time system, which was installed over the summer. York College was the last school in the CUNY Athletic Conference to add a time system, which will replace their old method of using stopwatches. Everyone on the team is more than happy with the upgrade.
Both teams hope to improve on last year and make more of a splash at the CUNYAC Championships, where the women finished seventh with 199 points, while the men finished fifth with 210 points. Their season opens Nov. 4 against Mount Saint Mary’s College at York College.
