August 11, 2022 at 10:52 a.m.
Notebook: Hodag swimmers eager to bring back the fun
Notebook: Hodag swimmers eager to bring back the fun
To be sure, there has been a lot of hard work and sacrifice over the last two years as Rhinelander won the WIAA Division 2 state championship in 2020 and followed that up with a runner-up performance at state last year, but Heck said that was not the challenge. The difficulty came more from what the team was unable to do in an effort to stay as safe and healthy as possible during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was a tough couple of years," Heck said. "It was a grind and COVID was hard. It was hard on family. It affected this team tremendously. Overall, it was just very stressful and hard for these kids. They did so well with it and I was so proud of how they handled really a very difficult situation.
"This year, I thought, 'Let's just have fun with this.' They know what it was like and it wasn't always the most fun. I think we're going have fun this year."
While the team still has high goals and expectations for the season, Heck said the fun will come with more activities outside the pool, which have been limited over the last two years.
"They had all these restrictions," she said. "We couldn't have team dinners. We couldn't have fun events. We had kids swimming at each end of the pool. We had to be separated in the locker rooms. I know our captains are already talking about more team events they want to do outside of the pool. It's just a great group and we can do so much more, physically, now that we're allowed to. I think we're just going back to the way things were a couple of years ago.
"That's what high school sports should be, and that's fun. You want to keep things fun and fresh. You can do that and still swim fast. That's what I want to do this year."
Numbers are solid again for the program, with roughly 20 athletes out this year. The three freshmen entering the program all have plenty of experience from the middle school and club programs and many of the athletes swam during the offseason. Because of that, Heck said the team was able to jump right in on Tuesday as it began what it hopes to be another march toward the state meet in Waukesha - which the whiteboard at the far end of the Heck Family Community Pool conveniently noted was only 101 days away as of the first practice.
"We can kind of jump in, get in more quality workouts. We're not wasting any time," she said. "The season is short. Everything's over the beginning of November and it's important to be not trying to get into shape halfway through the season. This is great. I think the kids are in great shape and I think they're going to have some great goals. I look forward to seeing what they come up with."
The Hodags will have a few non-conference tuneups prior to their GNC opener Sept. 1 at home against Ladysmith. Rhinelander will take part in the Merrill Fun in the Sun Outdoor Relays next Thursday, will take part in a non-conference invite at Menomonie Aug. 20 and then will be in Colby for a pentathlon meet Aug. 23.
"I'll be able to see where the kids are at, but it's also a nice adjustment to high school swim before school even begins," Heck noted.
Girls' tennis: Nichols flying solo
The coaching dynamic this fall for the Rhinelander High School girls' tennis team will look a little different. Matt Nichols is still running the show but he's looking for a new assistant coach moving forward.
Matt's brother Ben, who served as the assistant each of the last two years, is no longer with the program after taking a teaching position and relocating back to the Nichols' alma mater of Wausau West.
Luckily, with roughly 25 athletes out for the sport, Matt Nichols does have a bit of temporary help as 2021 RHS grad Jacob Weddle is pitching in prior to heading back to school.
"We're super lucky to have Jacob Weddle back and helping out. He's a great program alumni and now he plays college, so he brings a lot of experience and new ideas," Nichols said. "It's just too bad he couldn't stay around for the whole season, obviously understandable, but we could be hurting after he's gone."
As of earlier this week, both the assistant high school and middle school head coaching positions were vacant, according to the School District of Rhinelander website, though RHS activities director Brian Paulson told the River News late Wednesday it had found a potential candidate for at least one of the positions, pending administrative approval.
While Nichols looks for more help, he still has the task at hand of needed to quickly prepare his squad for the upcoming season. The team will scrimmage at Wausau West tomorrow morning and then jump into a busy opening week of competition, including a two-day invite at Bay Port this Monday and Tuesday, the Great Northern Conference opener against Lakeland this coming Thursday and a three-team invite at RHS tennis courts a week from today.
That's a bit of a challenge. While Nichols noted a number of returning players took part in tennis lessons over the summer, giving them a head start, the program also features a number of first-year players. So this week has been about trying to get everyone up to speed as quickly as possible.
"We're trying to cram in teaching all the major strokes - groundstrokes, volleys, serves - teaching the rules of the game, trying to teach tiebreaks," Nichols said. "We have a scrimmage on Saturday. That will help with just learning the rules of the game, getting into that routine, for these new people. Then we've got to get to playoffs (for varsity positions) too, so there's a lot in a couple of days."
The remainder of RHS fall practices get underway next week. The Hodag volleyball and cross country teams will start practice on Monday while the Hodag boys' soccer team will hold its first practice Tuesday morning.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.