Used with permission from Tess Fightmaster

Though these extra classes are optional, members of the team continue to show up and have a good time. “A lot of the kids actually really enjoy the dance and like it like they look cool doing it, but there’s a solid chunk of the kids that actually really enjoy doing it,” Fightmaster said.

With the end of the season slowly approaching, the WHHS swim team has decided to take a new approach to their training with dance.

“At first I didn’t understand it,” one of the swim coaches, Tess Fightmaster, said. “I swam for so many years and I never danced, so that was just such a new idea to me.”

While this kind of cross-training may seem random, dance has been known to help athletes become more nimble. 

“[The idea] actually came from our head coach Tammy Smith; she used to be a dance teacher,” Fightmaster said. “She thought that the dance movements would help coordinate the swimmers, because swimmers are notoriously uncoordinated people, and help give them a better mind-body connection.”

By participating in these classes, the team can focus more on their technique and quickly improve their skills.

“Now when you tell them to correct something in the water, you can see it almost immediately, and I don’t have to explain it as many ways,” Fightmaster said. “They didn’t necessarily have that connection before.”

These aren’t the only benefits of taking dance classes. These extra classes also allow the team to spend more time together and grow closer.

“It’s just really good team bonding,” Fightmaster said. “We’re all just being silly and we get to dance together, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Ultimately taking dance classes has allowed the team to better their swimming while also becoming more connected with each other. 

“It’s fun,” swimmer Josh Scharff, ‘27, said. “I think most swimmers should try it, because you get to hang out for a little bit after swimming and you get to goof off, but you also get to try to learn something nice and helpful.”