This past year the swim team at Independence High School had an awesome season even though the competition was very fierce.
Kyle Hallum has been at Independence High School since 2004 and has coached the swim and dive team since 2005. Hallum was very surprised with the team’s dedication throughout the season, mentioning¨I have a great coaching staff that has put in a lot of effort to work with the athletes.
Hallums expectations at districts was that the swim and dive team should put their best effort and demonstrate great sportsmanship. Hallum stated, ¨ Not only was there effort and their sportsmanship was top tier, but their competitive performance was well with the team being able to bring home more medals than we thought we could.¨ He was very surprised with the performance at district that our swim and dive team had shown. All their hard work had paid off, and they was able to bring home 13 medals. Meanwhile the boys team had finished third in districts which is the highest place that they have ever made since Hallum started coaching.
When asked why Hallum started coaching swimming, he stated “I enjoy sports, the nature of competition and he was asked to coach.” Hallum stated that he “enjoys competing and enjoys the positive people that are around him.” He was expecting a lot of new people to join the team, but he did not expect as many as there were. A lot of swimmers were new to the sport and their dedication to be competitive was impressive.
This past year the swim team had a tough season, but they gave it their all. Sophomore Hector Hidalgo said “I was expecting a tiresome season and went through the motions, but in the end I was able to improve in swimming and was able to maintain good grades. By Maintaining good grades, I was able to participate in all the swim meets and attend all the practices.”
Hidalgo stated that “the hardest part about swimming was having good time management scheduling long meets and practices while balancing schoolwork. A lot of kids do not know how to manage their time especially while being in a sport because in order to participate I had to have good grades.”
