SPRING MILLS, W.Va. (AP) - Daniel McIntosh enters his third season as Spring Mills head swim coach. Prior to coaching, his only involvement in swim was through competitive CrossFit, in which some competitions involved only minimal swimming.
So why swim?
McIntosh described CrossFit and swim as a community.
“Nobody really looks at each other as enemies,” McIntosh said. “Usually, you look at your enemy on the other sideline, where in swim everyone is high-fiving and everyone supports each other before, during and after the meet.”
Last season, 18 of the 22 swim school records were broken at Spring Mills. Every week, McIntosh updated the digital record board on the team app.
“I wanted the swim team to be recognized a little bit more than they had been,” McIntosh said. “I had them buy warmup suits, and every time they broke a record, they would get a star to wear, and if they were captain, they would wear a ‘captain’ on their lapels.”
Different captains were determined weekly and based on how they acted during that week of practice.
“This gave them kind of an incentive that they had to consistently be leaders every week,” McIntosh said.
Heavy strength workouts and lifting became ideal in the team’s practices when they weren’t in the pool. Last season, the team experienced no injuries.
“I would attribute the strength training to the reason the kids are getting better and at the same time, not breaking down,” McIntosh said.
Winter sports can begin practices on Feb. 15. Six Eastern Panhandle schools share a pool at Shepherd University, which currently isn’t open. The Wellness Center hasn’t made any announcements regarding when the pool will open.
“Last year, we would get the pool for one hour each practice and get maybe at most three practices a week,” McIntosh said. “Now with COVID, it’s really tough to get anything planned.”
While being away from his team, McIntosh has had Zoom meetings every couple months, talking about any plans and updates. He also has been checking in on them and their mental health.
McIntosh said he loves watching the process in his team. He enjoys getting the swimmers to understand why and how they do things, and if they do that every day, the little things will turn into huge things.
“The goal is for them to end up taking care of themselves,” McIntosh said.
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission has released a revised winter schedule. The state swim meet will be held April 20-21.
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