As Mount Carmel’s swimming season wraps up, the seniors may be fish out of water without the routine of practices and matches, but while on the team, they played an important role. They got an opportunity to be leaders, an opportunity they had never had previously at school.

Oftentimes students are only put in a leadership role in sports. Most of the time students are led by adults, like at school and home, and they still are to some extent in sports with coaches, but the mixing of age groups allows the older kids to have an influence and lead the younger kids.

The older kids can sense they are expected to lead. Senior swimmer Leslie Cleveland feels the pressure. 

“If you asked the underclassmen who they thought the leaders were,” he said, “They would probably mention me [and other seniors] Kaleb McCluer, AJ Stanislawski, and Quincy Poole.”

Though expected to lead, sometimes the leadership may come in a different way than expected. Experience changes perspective, and the advice given to the younger kids may not be what they expect. McCluer has reached the conclusion in his three and a half years of swimming that maybe the actual swimming wasn’t the most important part. 

“I’ve learned that sports aren’t always about winning,” he said. “They’re about having fun doing what you’re doing.”

As time goes on, people often do what is expected of them. On other teams, a leader might look like the one who motivates teammates in the weight room, the one who calls out mistakes, or the one who knows the most. 

The same is not as true on this team. The leaders on this team motivate each other in different ways and like to have fun by getting out of their shell. 

McCluer is often seen chatting up the more introverted underclassmen by the pool, being friendly and trying to get them to socialize.

Head coach Matthew McGuire agrees that the seniors play the role of leader better. 

“Quincy Poole and Andrew Stanislawski are our most vocal leaders on the team. Leslie leads by example.” he said. “The most important aspect of their leadership is their ability to motivate those around them.”

As the seniors look back at what they’ve learned and taught for the past three to four years, they ended the season on a high note against Oak Forest High School with a commanding victory in all the relay, backstroke, freestyle, and butterfly events.

For seniors, swimming is over, and none of them plans to swim competitively in college. Though they will be gone from this campus soon, their influence will still be felt. MC swimmers will continue to motivate younger players and encourage them to have fun.

While they are done with all the fun, the seniors can still reminisce. 

“I’m glad I joined the team,” said Cleveland. “I made a lot of new friends, and I had fun all the time.”