By Christine Walsh, Staff Writer
Since the arrival of coach Brian Thomas in the spring of 2016, the St. Bonaventure women’s swim team has set nine school records between both individual events and relays. The team has been acknowledged for major improvement, especially this season. The team had significant wins against La Salle, St. Louis and George Mason at the Atlantic 10 Classic in October.
Thomas acknowledged how the team has improved the aspect of learning to compete every day.
“We emphasize the need to race every day,” said Thomas. “You want to be ready to race any given day. I think that allows them to be in the position to compete every time we go out there.”
The seniors have been through three different coaches, and Thomas gives them a lot of credit enabling him to make these changes.
“Our team has been really good at changing on the fly,” said Thomas. “We have some seniors who were recruited by one coach, coached by another for two years and then had me for two years, but you see their commitment.”
Senior breaststroker Maria Rocchi said, with the improvements the team has shown this season, loftier goals have been set.
“Our expectations of each other and the team as a whole have grown. We all try to hold each other to higher standards,” said Rocchi.
Her close relationship with the team makes achieving goals and the sport much more enjoyable.
“This past season we have started to beat teams that we never really matched up to before. Confidence was key in this,” said Rocchi. “As we started to believe in ourselves and each other, competing at a higher level became easier.”
Thomas noted the type of character he looks for in the recruiting process.
“Our strengths are in our people,” said Thomas. “We try to surround our team with people who want to be at St. Bonaventure.”
He notes one of the things he fights the most is showcasing to our school that the team’s perceived weaknesses are actually bigger strengths.
Thomas emphasizes to athletes when he is recruiting that not only are they going to
come in and get a personalized education, but they’ll also be around 25-30 girls who want to
be here. He finds one of his team’s biggest strengths is making sacrifices to get stronger.
In terms of improvement, Thomas expressed finding love for the sport over immediate
results can be a tough part in the process at times. He encourages his swimmers to
embrace routine and buy into being an athlete whether at practice or not, versus seeing
results all the time.
“We want to see results based on hard work, but it doesn’t necessarily manifest itself that
way with swimming,” said Thomas. “I think that’s an area we maybe need to improve.”
Rocchi acknowledges her team for moving up in the conference and becoming a top
competitor again.
“I think the future is bright for this program,” Rocchi said. “The direction we
are moving in this year is indicative of the success we will see in years to come.”
“Sometimes we get caught up in things we don’t have rather than what we do have,” Thomas said.
He recognizes it’s hard understanding how special the opportunity is when in the thick of it.
In an individual sport like swimming, an athlete has to not only work on the physical features
of their performance, but the mental aspect and confidence as well. After speaking with
Thomas, he explained he wants his athletes to graduate from Bonaventure with two goals, wishing they could do it again and walk out with confidence ready for the next step of their lives. He accepts going through tough times and seeing results can both help an athlete gain confidence.
Thomas recognized senior Emily Wulff, who dropped nearly two seconds off her 100 breaststroke time this season.
“Starting in 2016 when I arrived as coach, she laid out why she didn’t think she had been
successful up to that point and wasn’t so sure about her involvement in the sport anymore,”
said Thomas. “She threw it all out there, but it was great because it opened up that
communication which is crucial between an athlete and coach.”
From there Thomas has put her on the right track by finding consistency, routine and working on the little things. He also notes Wulff has a ton of credibility with her teammates.
As the swimmers prepare for the Atlantic 10 Championship this weekend in Geneva, Ohio, they only have one set goal which is to see improvement. Thomas wants the swimmers to
remain focused on the process of swimming fast because those opportunities don’t come
too often. He motivates them to control what they can control, not think too far ahead and
simply enjoy the process. Rocchi expressed her goals and excitement for this week as well.
“I think we are more than capable of moving up in the conference this year, but I do not
want to think too much about that,” said Rocchi. “I want to have an awesome time with my
teammates, and I am excited to see some really fast swimming from all the girls on the
team.”
