Ramaz Swim Teams Are Making A Splash

 

Talia Leifer '23 and Amiel Low '24 both have a strong love of swimming. Before high school, Talia swam on the 92Y Swim Team and Amiel has been an avid swimmer since youth. But when COVID-19 shut down the world, their swimming time was severely reduced. At the beginning of this school year, they were both optimistic about getting back in the water more regularly. But the normalcy of swimming again was not the only thing they had on their minds… 

Talia and Amiel share the conviction that swimming is an amazing sport to help build teamworking skills. Swimming encourages students from all grades, who may never overlap with one another, to interact and become friends. So the two teamed up and went to Coach Ari Witkes, and they were pleasantly surprised by his immediate enthusiasm. But composing a Girls' Team and a Boys' team would not be so simple. To have an official team both groups need to have six swimmers, and they also need a place to practice! Talia was surprised when she formed a solid team of ten Upper School girls; Amiel was very happy when six boys signed up for his team. And after a few months, Ari Witkes found the perfect place to practice–the Moise Safra Center.

Now with official teams, students practice a couple of times a week. Their practices start by working out their legs by kicking. This helps them build stamina. The majority of practice is spent learning techniques for various strokes. They learn how to form properly, kick off the wall skillfully, expand their lung capacity well, and maximize the power needed for each stroke. They end every practice with light swimming to lower their heart rates.

Within the next month, the Girls' Team and the Boys' Team plan to start competing in the Yeshiva League. All we can say is—Go Rams!