It's no secret that the overall age of players on a team affects how the team plays as a unit. This year's swimming team is split in an interesting dichotomy when it comes to age. The men's team, with seven freshmen, is relatively young. The women's team however, has only three freshmen, with the bulk of the team made up of older, more experienced swimmers. In swimming -- a sport where athletes compete as individuals, even if it's for the team -- age has a very different effect than it would for most other sports.
One of the greatest advantages of having a young team is the new talent freshmen can bring.
"There's a lot of potential for us to grow, a lot of potential for us to get better," senior Fran Crippen said. "It's exciting for us to sit back and watch these guys work hard and improve."
Conversely, there's a bit of a gamble involved whenever new players come onto a team. The difference between high school competition and college competition is huge, with freshman having to deal with being away from home, adjusting to college and a new workload. There is always the question of how well the freshmen will adjust and whether they'll perform up to expectations.
"They don't know what it's like to be racing every week on Saturdays and how demanding our practice schedule is," Crippen said. "Now there's no one at 5:30 in the morning getting them out of bed. They have to make sure that they're eating right, they have to make sure that they're doing their homework. This takes a lot of adjustment for some kids."
In a program such as Virginia's, in which the men have won seven ACC titles in a row, the expectations are that much more demanding. This year's freshmen seem to be handling the transition well.
"This group is very good at being responsible for each other," Crippen said, "They're doing a good job so far of adjusting, and that will help them with their overall success."
For a team with such high goals, a successful performance on the part of the freshman this year is going to be vital to the success of the team.
"Our goal from now on will always be to win ACC [Tournment]," Crippen said. "The critics think that this is going to be our toughest year, and I think this could be our best year. There are a lot of question marks we have on this team, but there's a lot of places where we could excel."
On the women's side, the situation is a little different. The women have only three freshmen and seven seniors, nearly the opposite of the dynamic on the men's team. But a strong upper-class team brings its own advantages.
"Having such a huge senior class with that extra emphasis and that extra excitement, knowing this that this is the last chance we get, is really going to help out," senior Rachael Burke said. "I think it's going to make a lot of people swim a lot faster."
While the dynamic may be different between the men's and women's teams, the goal is still the same.
"Without a doubt, [the goal is] to win ACCs," Burke said. "We let that go last year. My first two years, [my class] knew what it felt like to win, and last year we just kind of fell apart. We're ready to get back and [win the ACC Tournament] again. It's going to be a really hard challenge, but I think we can do it."
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