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Behind the Blocks: NCAAs or bust tracks the training and development of former All Met swimmers working towards the goal of making the NCAA Division I championship meet in March during the 2013-2014 season. Each week the swimmers will post a personal blog about training with their respective school’s swim program and the daily challenges of life as a student-athlete at the D1 level. Check back every Tuesday for new blog posts, and join us throughout the season for a behind-the-scenes look at some of the country’s elite collegiate swimmers and swim programs.
Eva Greene is a junior at the University of California-Berkeley. She started her swimming career with the Tuckahoe Tigers in the NVSL and continued with McLean High School where she was MVP from 2008-2011. She was named PVS Swimmer of the Year in 2009 as a member of Machine Aquatics. Read all of Eva’s blog posts here.
It’s here. Finals week is finally here. It’s like the Jaws theme song is playing in the background every time I walk on to campus. Each semester seems to end just a bit more quickly than the last, and I feel the same nerves take over as I realize exactly how much work I have to do in such little time. Which is a little funny since you’d think I would have it down by my fifth round of finals.
I’m torn between feelings of excitement to go home soon, stress with the amount of studying to do before then, and slight sluggishness with the decrease in the amount I’m working out. Struggling to find any sort of normal balance, this is one week out of the year when swimming has to be put on the back burner.
One of the many things I admire about my coaches is how much they value us as students, not just athletes. They place great importance on academic success, so naturally they understand the importance of final exams. For this reason, our swim schedule this week looks a little different than normal. Instead of having a full mandatory workout schedule, we have optional workouts as well as some we can do on our own. As long as we meet the minimum swim and lift requirements, we’re golden!
This layout is extremely helpful because we each can tailor our week the way that best fits our school schedule. For those of us who are done with exams on Tuesday or Wednesday, we can take the beginning of the week a bit lighter, but get back on track once we’re done. For me, I got a bit unlucky this semester. I have the joy of having my last final on Friday night, from 7-10 p.m. Yes, I get a little more study time, but it might be a struggle to maintain focus on studying while my teammates are finishing up and transitioning into winter training mode. But for me, I’m one final down with two more to go, so the studying continues.
After this week of tests, we get to go home for about ten days, and then we return for winter training. It’s kind of annoying because we have to go to Hawaii every single year for ten terrible days of warm weather and sunshine…we really don’t enjoy it. Just kidding! Winter training is definitely tough, but seriously, Hawaii is the hands down the best part of the year and I am so grateful that I get to go back again.
I could go on and on about Hawaii and winter training, but I’ll save it for next time. Back to the study grind! Merry Christmas and GO BEARS!
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