Aishwarya Kondaveeti, the captain of the girls’ swimming team, took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to the BOSM English Press about the team and BOSM 2019. Aishwarya had been an avid swimmer until the 10th Grade but took a break for a few years to focus on academics, but never planned to return to the sport in college. Initially, she took it up in college as an avenue of exercise but grew to love the sport.
Talking about this BOSM, the girls’ swimming tournament will have 50m, 100m and 200m races for freestyle while the other three strokes—namely backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly—will have 50m and 100m races. There will also be a 200m individual medley, with 50m for each of the four strokes. Two relays will be conducted with one being a 4*50 medley where each participant will perform one of the strokes, and a 4*50 freestyle relay. Heats will be conducted for shorter races like 50m and timed trials will be conducted for longer events. The best six qualify for the finals. Two girls from each outstation college will be allowed to participate in as many events as they want to. This is a change from last year where each girl participant could take part in a maximum of five events.
This time, the competition is expected to be tougher because of a higher number of participating colleges, namely SRCC, Venkateswara, Jesus and Mary, and Khalsa, among others. “Many of these colleges have sports quota as a result of which they have national level swimmers in their teams. However, we still end up winning at least one medal in each event. It has been the trend for the past few years and I expect it to continue this time.”
A minor problem the swimming events often face is spectatorship. However, this time, Aishwarya has spoken to RecNAcc about setting up tents next to the pool to encourage a wider audience. A more important problem girls face is with the changing room, which still has curtain separators instead of, you know, walls and doors. The CoSSAc has promised to address this issue. While the construction is unlikely to happen this semester, it is expected to be in place by next BOSM.
The girls’ swimming team comprises 3 members from third year, 6 from second year, 2 from first year and 1 PhD student. The turn-out for swimming trials was quite low this year. In spite of that, the captain and the coach are more than satisfied with the new recruits. The team has been practising twice a day, with the evening practice being considerably more strenuous. Morning practice usually entailed strengthening sessions at GymG up until a few days ago. Now those have been converted to turning and diving practices which are conducted directly at the pool.
Aishwarya feels that the swimming team is more relaxed in their approach to the sport, as compared to other teams on campus who are rather intense about their practice sessions. She laughingly recounts the times the team has wrapped up practice early in order to play water polo. Her tenure as captain has been a good learning experience. The team is also supported by the coach who regulates their regimen. She believes that the captain need not be the best player in the team but one who is always available, supportive and willing to provide constructive feedback.
On a parting note, she wants people from all years to try out for different sports teams. She feels that students will live a more balanced life and be better equipped to juggle multiple commitments if they stay active in sports.