On Oct. 24, Cardozo’s girl’s varsity swim team took home a win at their last meet of the season against Queens High School of Teaching, Liberal Arts and the Sciences. After a challenging meet against opponents, the Lady Judges were able to bring home the victory with a final score of 37-23.
Through the swim season, the student-athletes faced hardships, but were able to push through. Reflecting on this fall season, many of the swimmers looked back with pride and accomplishment. Angelyn Fang said that she feels that she made improvements as a swimmer, and so did the team as a whole. Many of this is thanks to practice.
“For me, my week is heavily focused on my training apart from school work,” Fang said. “My practices typically take 2-3 hours where my coach focuses mainly on our technique making sure each player improves little by little each day. We end our practices off with a team meeting where we plan the line up for our next meet, discuss what we all can work on and just enjoy each other’s company.”
Swim meets, like any other sporting event, require a lot of preparation; physically and mentally. Fang shared how she prepares for all of her meets.
“Before my competitions and meets, I mentally prepare myself by studying the aspects I’ve been working on. I remember the new skills I’ve learned that help me overall and prepare myself on how I’ll execute my knowledge during my performance at the competition,” she explained.
Fang also explained that the mental state and mental health of athletes is extremely important, just as much as their physical wellbeing. “One skill I’m working on and have always worked on is training myself mentally,” she said.
“While training my body physically is a big aspect to my sport, so is my mind. Without being in the right headspace, I cannot perform my best,” Fang added. “Just like how a game cannot start without a ball, a new record cannot be made if I am not mentally ready. No one is there to push me but myself, without my mind telling me to push harder and reach my limits I cannot succeed.”
It’s clear that without the right mental state it could affect their performance during games and can bring them down. Student athletes have to juggle between school work and their sport, which can be challenging to the developing mind. The pressure athletes undergo is tough, but there are ways they manage it. Self-care, prioritizing mental health, perspective and time management are all key factors that help prevent disorganization and stress that may lead to burnout.
In addition, having a support system is also important to a healthy mentality student athletes strive to have here at Cardozo. Cardozo has an amazing community amongst the athletes that help create support systems that help guide students and allows them to give their best performance academically and in their sport.
