As I rounded the corner of the field house, the girls of 6G were on the pool deck, dancing to water polo instructor Kyle Cocomise’s music playlist. “We only have as much fun as you guys do,” Cocomise said. “If you guys want to have a fun time, we’ll join in too.” 6G was already off to a good start.
Assistant instructor Brandi Davis led the dorm in stretches, asking the girls their favorite animals (horses, dogs, vampire monkeys, chinchillas, sharks and ostriches).
“Ostriches, turtles and giraffes,” said Erica, 15, to the laughter of her dorm mates. “There are actually more, but I narrowed it down.”
Under gray skies and cool temperatures following several days of rain, the high for day 10 of camp was 63 degrees Fahrenheit. I laughed as I watched the various methods the girls took to get into the water. Some climbed in as slowly as possible; others jumped in squealing. Several of the girls huddled in the shallow end, hugging each other as they shivered and tried to adjust to the water temperature.
Cocomise started the girls with a freestyle lap, demonstrated by first-time camper Zoe, before covering breaststroke. Next, the campers moved to the deep end to practice treading water. After several minutes, Cocomise challenged them to tread while holding their wrists out of the water. Their faces—the only parts of them visible above the water—contorted as they adjusted to the added difficulty.
Then counselor Lauren Eames chose four girls for a challenge: Two girls (Viktoria and Tyrsa) dove to the bottom of the pool to each retrieve two nine-pound kettle bells while one girl (Erica) treaded water and the fourth (Zoe) held her breath. After both kettle bells were retrieved, they swam a lap, attempting to break the current record: 1 minute, 31 seconds.
After retrieving the kettle bells in less than 20 seconds, the four girls started their lap. The cheers of “You’ve got it!” increased as the girls encouraged Viktoria, 15, worn out from her kettle bell dive. Davis intently watched the stopwatch as assistant counselor Erica Irwin swam the end of the lap with her. 6G came in just shy of beating the record, with a time of 1 minute, 45 seconds.
The rest of the class was allocated for a free swim, and the girls resumed their dance moves while playing water volleyball.
Both Eames and Irwin lit up as they described how rewarding they had found the experience, even only halfway through camp. “You never realize how much the youth need pyc until you work as a worker, especially with the one-on-one time you have as a counselor,” Irwin said.
“It’s rewarding when they want to please you and they respond to your direction,” Eames said.
After the girls showered and changed, Cocomise awarded Viktoria with a ticket for pushing herself in the dorm challenge.
The girls put their hands in for a final lyrical cheer, “Under the sea, under the sea. Swim class is better down where it’s wetter. Thank you swim class!”