By: Isabel Swafford '22

After Fall term finals had finished up, the swim and dive team packed up their swimsuits and flew to Puerto Rico for their annual training trip in December of 2018.

As a freshman, I had just finished my first term at Caltech, so I was excited for a break from classes and a chance to bond with my teammates.

Each day we practiced once in the morning and once in the afternoon, with lots of naps and food in between. We trained in a 50-meter long course pool, rather than the usual 25-yard short course pool back in Pasadena. The practices were tough, but the team found ways to lift each other's spirits by cracking jokes and singing along to the music we played during workouts.

I enjoyed finding a new restaurant to try every day and eating meals with my teammates after our hard work in the pool. We all enjoyed trying mofongo, a classic local dish made with plantains. The team also spent some time exploring our surroundings, and we visited Old San Juan, a swimming hole and waterfall, and plenty of time on the beach!

Adam Kogan '21 remembers that "it was great to hang out with each other in a new place and especially over all-you-can-eat tacos!"

We were lucky to meet up with the swim team from University of South Dakota, who were also training in the area, and held a fun practice and relay meet. We raced in lots of relays against the visiting team, and the Caltech men won 4 out of 5 relays!

Jeffrey Ma '22 took pictures and videos throughout the trip and put together an awesome recap video, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOKrxcPeLXM

In the video, you can also listen to some of our favorite tunes we listened to during our workouts, and also some of Coach Andy Brabson's Spanish skills at the end!

This trip was a great way to get some hard work in while also fostering our family-like team culture. Without the stress of classes, the team came together to swim and have a great time!

The team is looking forward to the next time we can practice all together again in the same pool, rather than on a video call!