Credit to Stella McCoy

Girls Swim Team Captain Jasmyne Moody seen preforming breast stroke.

Most high school sports have their practices right after school, but people don’t often think about the sports that can’t practice at Francis Howell North. The girls’ swim team practices at the St. Peter’s Rec Plex, resulting in their practices being from 8-10 p.m.

“Because we don’t have a pool to ourselves, we share the Rec Plex with the Sharks,” junior Moira Dustin said. “Because [the Sharks] are their club team, they give them the earlier practice opportunities.”

The Knights also share the pool with schools including St. Dominic, Liberty and Francis Howell Central, because Pattonville is the only school in the area with its own pool. A lot of swimmers also notice that because of their late practices, they have struggles that translate into their personal lives. Many girls aren’t accustomed to the late practices, causing them to struggle with balancing both their academic life and social life during swim season.

“A lot of the girls who swim club are. very used to swimming at the prime practice hours,” girls swim and dive coach Rowan Pugh said. “So, when you have club swimmers who want to swim high school, they now have to practice at later times, so it’s difficult for them to adjust. We do have girls that chose not to swim high school because of this.”

Many girls really feel the effects of the late nights during school. Not only do the swimmers have to get home, but they also have to get ready for bed, wind down and get any extra schoolwork done. With the little amount of sleep they get, it affects their productivity during school, and can make it hard for them to concentrate on their work when they’re sleep deprived.

The swimmers have to adapt in many ways because of the times of practice. Many of them notice themselves falling asleep in class or having a harder time paying attention. Though the times of practice are difficult, over the years, they have found ways to cope.

“I try to nap as much as I can and sign up for tutoring programs that help me learn what I missed in class,” Dustin said. “I also have found catching up on sleep and late assignments over the weekend is a nice way to keep organized.”

Not only does it impact the swimmers, but Pugh also notices the effects of having practices late.

“I’ve noticed my head is more in a fog,” Pugh said. “I mean, you’re getting five hours of sleep on a good night, so it makes it very difficult.”

Not only does the availability of practice times affect the mental aspects of both the girls and their coach, it also affects the productivity of their team and what they can get done during practice times.

“We also kind of give up time in the pool to let girls go early, go home early,” Pugh said. “We will practice Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 7:30-9:30 p.m., but we can only be in the pool from 8-9:30 p.m., where other teams get that full pool time.”

Though these times are difficult, Pugh and the team really try to be positive and work with the practice times they are given.

“The girls are amazing and they really do make the best out of the time slots,” Pugh said. “We do still get a lot done with the time we are given to practice.”