Nitardy and Fleming getting their team into tournament mindset
The St. Bonaventure University men’s and women’s swimming and diving team, coming fresh off a victory against Niagara on Saturday, Feb. 2, is looking to continue its success heading into the Atlantic 10 tournament starting on Wednesday.
“We swam really well against Niagara,” said head coach Skip Nitardy. “We won close to 90 percent of the races in the meet. It was senior day, so it was a fun way for our seniors to go out. It was good to get a win going into the Atlantic 10 tournament, especially because we had a tough meet the week before.”
Nitardy explained what his team has been looking to improve on since its last meet against Niagara.
“We’re just fine-tuning turns and stroke technique,” said Nitardy. “Basic adjustments to cover before championships.”
While Nitardy has coached in bigger tournaments before, this will be his first experience at Atlantic 10 tournament. He expressed how he prepares for this as a coach.
“It’s going to be an eye-opener for me,” said the first-year coach. “We swam in one invitational earlier in the year where there were five Atlantic 10 teams. They’re strong. I am expecting some strong competition. It all comes down to who has the most heart and guts in tournaments like these. I, as a coach, am going to use this tournament as a learning experience.”
Heading into the Atlantic 10 tournament, Nitardy is looking for big performances across the board. He feels his team is ready and has high hopes.
“We’re hoping for big performances across the board,” said Nitardy. “We can’t control what other teams do, we just to be ready to go. We went to Ohio in December and we pretty much swam 80 percent best times. Really fast swims for in-season swimming. We’ve done the work. Now it’s a matter of them letting it out.”
Nitardy also explained that he would like to see his upperclassmen, on both sides, take a big step at the tournament.
“I want to see our upperclassmen perform as well or better as they did last year,” said Nitardy. “That’s my biggest goal.”
On the diving side, Stephanie Fleming, head diving coach, also explained what she’s doing to prepare the divers.
“We’ve been doing a lot of mock meets,” said Fleming. “The competition at the tournament is getting larger and stronger every year. It’s about being consistent We’ve been going for five months now, so physically they are there. The biggest part about going to A10s is about being in the right mindset, so when they get there they aren’t rattled by the competition. We want them to be comfortable.”
By Sean Mains, Contributing Writer
mainss18@bonaventure.edu
