Many students at Vestavia Hills High School are not aware of the athletics team, swim and dive. When questioned about the Swim and Dive team, numerous students responded startled. Despite the team being instituted numerous decades ago, the recognition of this high school sport is still lacking.
The swim team at Vestavia is considered a fall varsity sport; however, the team accepts any athletes in 7th grade and up. With no tryouts or specific qualifications, the team is open to anyone willing to join. Although most team members already swim competitively with their respective year-round club teams, all are welcome!
Just this year, there have been several alterations to Vestavia’s team and AHSAA swimming. In years past, the AHSAA included a sectional swim meet. This season, the process of qualifying for the State meet has been flipped drastically. Rather than having only one meet to qualify for State, the AHSAA has excluded the sectional meet. This turns any regular season meet between August 1st and State (November 22-23) into a chance to meet the qualifying cuts. This one change dramatically shifts the perspective high school swimmers have toward the State Championships, which will be in late November. In the team’s schedule, only two regular season meets will be held at the Birmingham Crossplex. Only these two meets will be guaranteed to give precise and accurate times due to the electronic touch pads that the Crossplex facility prioritizes over volunteer timers. At swim meets that rely on volunteer timers, the inaccuracy caused by human error could hinder the results and therefore unintentionally qualify swimmers who might have missed the mark.
In the swim team at Vestavia, college counselor and previous head coach Oliver Aaron has stepped down to assistant coach. Now, Connor Campbell has been appointed as the new head coach. He is also the head cross-country coach at Pizitz Middle School. Despite the high expectations left behind by Coach Aaron, the addition of Coach Campbell has been a great success. Before, Vestavia’s swim team did not have high school team practices; however, this season the team has integrated optional team practices at Vestavia Hills Aquatic Complex with the coaching of the previous collegiate swimmer and current head coach, Coach Campbell.
From the student who plans to swim collegiately to the one who simply wants to get involved in new activities, the team is open to everyone! No matter your level, capabilities, or expectations, anyone is welcome to join!
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