COVID-19 has greatly impacted winter sports and all the athletes who were excited to participate in their designated sport. The boys varsity swim team has been adjusting well to not being able to practice in person up until the past week. The team has very talented swimmers, one of those being standout swimmer and senior Captain Walter Kraus.
Kraus has been a part of the varsity team since his freshman year. He specializes in swimming the 50 and 100-yard butterfly for the team, as well as the 50, 100, 200, and 500. He also swims in most or all of the team’s A-seed relays, depending on the swim meet.
So far, the season has been mainly meeting on Zoom. The meetings vary from online workouts to talking about strategies for the upcoming season. “Our team has held online Zoom workouts for at least 30 minutes a day,” Kraus said, “and athletes are required to exercise and log at least four and a half hours of hard work per week, including the 30 minutes of practice they will be on Zoom that day.”
As of Jan. 19, the team was allowed to start practicing at the pool located off-campus in small cohorts to help practice correct social distancing protocols. Being in the pool allows everyone on the team to improve each day and start practicing to get ready for upcoming meets if allowed.
Kraus is looking forward to having the whole boys swim team in the pool together and possibly allowing the team to have swim meets. Kraus talked about how being a captain is especially hard this year. Without being in person, the team is unable to bond as they normally would. “With limited exposure, time, and experience with the current roster, it’s been hard to bring everyone together,” Kraus said, “But the captains and coaches of both teams are working hard to get the team ready for some pool time, and possibly even some virtual meets.”
Earlier in the year, Kraus committed to Union College to further his swimming career at a collegiate level. Although there is not much of a recruiting process for swimming and diving teams, Kraus kept a positive outlook and achieved one of his many goals. He chose to commit to Union mostly because he really enjoys the college’s focus on engineering, and he is drawn to this liberal arts school.
Kraus knew when he saw the campus it was perfect for him, it was not too big and the perfect distance from home. Another big factor in his decision to attend Union in the fall was the opportunity to swim with a team at the collegiate level. “I’m looking forward to being able to meet an entirely new team and coaching staff, including a team-specific trainer and weightlifting coach,” Kraus said.
