Junior Nanette Wu started swimming when she was about seven years old. She is a swimmer for both the Santa Clara swim club and and the MVHS swim team. This is now her third year on varsity.
EE: What are your greatest strengths as a swimmer?
NW: My best stroke is backstroke. I’ve swam 100 [backstroke] every single time in dual meets since freshman year. I went undefeated last year and so far this year for 100 [backstroke]. Teammates wise – I think I am a relatively supportive teammate. I don’t usually complain. I’m usually the first to help someone during a game. Last year I got the “most inspirational” award, which basically means that even though I am not the fastest swimmer on team I am a relatively good teammate.
EE: What do you enjoy most about being on your swim team?
NW: My teammates are the best teammates I could ever ask for. They are basically my best friends. When I get my best time, they are right next to me and they are cheering. When I am injured, they are the ones that are carrying me out of the water and grab my ice. They’re there for basically everything. What other people learn from their clubs, like going to United Nations or doing DECA and FBLA, I basically learn all of that in swimming and much more.
EE: What is the most important aspect of swimming for the MVHS team?
NW: I think in high school, you realize that swimming is not an individual sport. You really have to think about your teammates when you are swimming. When you are really hurt in the water, you have to think of your teammates. You’re earning points not for yourself but for the whole team.
EE: What are your goals for this year?
NW: We are definitely trying to win league this year. We lost a lot of our strongest seniors so we are trying to make up for that by having a very large freshman class. At CCS we want to place in the top eight. We won CCS the last year and the year before that. For myself, I want to try to make CCS championship finals.
EE: What is one failure and one success you had during swimming?
NW: In freshman year, I could have qualified for championships, but I crashed into the lane line halfway through, and I couldn’t recover from that, so I was .02 [seconds] off from qualifying for the finals. But sophomore year, I came back and trained really hard over the year. I placed first in the concellation prize.
EE: What is the most important thing that you have learned from your swimming experiences?
NW: Sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone. You just need to hold your breath. You want to breath, its a natural instinct, but you can’t. When you are under the water you are so dizzy and your lungs are on fire, you’re not even conscious but you just have to keep on pushing. Your teammates are there and you have to earn points.
