Bartlett co-op hopes for better results ahead
There wasn’t anything ideal about the way the Bartlett-Streamwood boys swimming co-op prepared for Saturday’s Upstate Eight Conference meet.
The squad had three days off school. And with school still effectively closed, Carl Metzke and his team had to provide their own transportation to St. Charles North for Saturday’s meet.
“We were a little surprised to get the notification at about 2 p.m. on Thursday that we weren’t going to have school on Friday,” Metzke said. “We also weren’t allowed in the building on Friday or Saturday, so we had a little extra to what everybody else had this week.”
Bartlett fields a co-opted swim team with Streamwood and trains at Bartlett. The week’s snowstorm left the team unable to train in its pool on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday, though the squad was able to have a 90-minute training session on Thursday.
“It was something, but we could only make it an optional session because of the conditions,” Metzke said. “So we didn’t have full participation because, obviously, not everybody was able to make it there.”
At this time of the season, swim teams are actively working to keep their athletes’ muscles in a state of overuse. Somewhere in the next two weeks, as they work toward the IHSA sectional meets, every team moves back on that training. This tapering process allows the tired muscles to rest and swimmers then swim their fastest times of the season.
All teams in northern Illinois are in the same situation with regard to the snow, but the extended time away from the pool might hasten that tapering — so Metzke said he may alter training as his squad prepares for the Feb. 19 St. St. Charles North sectional.
“In these past three days that we coaches have been off, we’ve been able to communicate with each other and readjust the schedule a little bit,” Metzke said. “We want to do the best we can in this next week so we can get in our final workouts.”
Swimmers tend to be creatures of repetition. There are early-morning practices and after-school practices and that pattern can resume in the days leading to the sectional. If there has been damage done due to the days off-school, nearly every key school has had the same issues with which to contend.
“You have your schedule and you stick to your schedule,” Metzke said. “Then when your schedule gets disrupted, there’s nothing you can do about it. You know it’s only going to do bad things. But you try to keep the train on the tracks as much as you can and focus on the end goal.”
Metzke said he and his staff need to be careful in adding too much workload so close to the ultimate end of the season.
“We’ll try to pick up the slack,” he said. “But we always want to be certain that we don’t overdo it and negate some of the effects of that training. You don’t want to go too hard and give them too much at the end of the season. But we’ll definitely go harder in the next week than they’re used to.”
The co-op finished last in the seven-team meet and scored 48 points. St. Charles North won the meet with 329 points.
“Our JV kids really stepped up today,” Metzke said. “A couple of those guys will step up and take varsity spots in the sectional. That was really promising to see. Our varsity guys are staying consistent. They haven’t dropped or gained too much time, and we can still work with that.”