Memories of a Gator: Maura Finn

(Actual Editor's Note: Each year I ask the Gator seniors to write a blog post about their memories as an MVP swimmer.  This is the first of many I hope you will see this summer.  Maura is taking a gap year to do programs in Ecuador and Colorado before attending William and Mary.)

I sat for hours at my computer trying to come up with funny memories, wise words, and witty comments to summarize my Gator experience. Unfortunately, I am not stat boy and I can hardly recall my best time this year for freestyle. I can’t even really match the Phalen’s wit they wield in their emails. 

The only thing I have going for me is many long summers spent at MVP starting as a six and under and the memories that go with it. So I compiled a list of things I learned and memories I have, to hopefully give a glimpse into the mind of an older Gator who has been through it all before.

•   I am not very well known. I don’t coach or swim in the A meets. I enjoy a low profile on the team, but that does not make me any less a Gator. Despite being very low on swim ladder, I show up and swim my hardest, and, more importantly, cheer my hardest. No one cares what my times are, being a gator is about more than that.

•  Savor the practices where you get to play water polo. Though it is my lack of hand eye coordination that led to swimming and later running, water polo days are the best days even if you only grab the ball once.

•  The mud in the team area is unavoidable.

• Do your push-ups and squats. Swim team has given me strength. Doing a few great pushups is impressive, so keep up that hard work.

• Loving every practice can be hard, especially if it is cold or rainy or both. I have dreaded some cloudy, cool, early morning practices. There have been plenty of times when I have begged the Thunder Gods to come. Sometimes my pleas are answered, and sometimes not. But each new miserable practice makes for a great memory later, so I don’t let myself get too mopey.

• The Gators are one of the constants in my life. When the air gets warm, I know exactly where I am headed, for nearly every day. Many of my fellow gators when I was an eight and under, are still with me as a fifteen- eighteen. That is pretty amazing. Through everything, they have been at my side every summer, no matter what school we go to, or what teachers we have. Swim team would not have been the same without their goofy attitudes, affinity for water polo, and smiles no matter how long the meets are. The Gators are one giant family, and even though it makes for rather long B meets, I am so glad to be a part of it.

 So there are six memories and lessons to go with six lanes and six letters in the word GATORS. People can say that I never was on a team sport, but all the Gators know better. Mount Vernon Park has the most spirited team around with loud cheers, high fives, and friendliness. I am so happy that I have been (and will always be) a Gator.