West Hills High School Swim and Dive Team
The 2013 swim season is just getting into full swing, and this year the Wolfpack swim team has a new coaching staff and a brand new event in their lineup. Coach Searls, who also coaches the boys and girls waterpolo teams, is the new head coach of the Swim Team. For this interview, he shared his thoughts on this year’s team.
Although both waterpolo and swim are both team sports, a large focus in swim on competing against your own teammates. When asked if this individualized focus, rather than the whole team focus he is used to, made it necessary for him to change the way he approaches coaching with the swim team, Coach Searls responded, ”Swim is a dual based coaching strategy. One of the strategies is to coach each player individually and one is to coach them to compete not only against everybody else in the race, but also against themselves, whether it is to better their times or to stay in first place all year in that event.”
Although it is difficult to say without having had a meet yet, looking at the team at this point in time of the season Coach Searls believes the team’s strongest events are the relays, and 50 and 100 freestyle events. With diving being a new event this year, all of the swim team members who compete in this event are first year divers. Because of this, Coach Searls feels that as the season goes on, this will be the area where the team experiences the most growth.
As last year’s CIF and League Champions, Coach Searls predicts that Valhalla will be the Wofpack’s biggest challenge this season. Members of the swim team I have spoken with said that many of them were already familiar with the coaches and are comfortable working with them. They believe they have the determination and the skill to make it to the finals and possibly win league and CIF.
