For a Laguna Beach High School student, joining a sports team seems logical since the school’s atmosphere is based heavily on sports and art. There are many sports available on campus, from tennis to cross-country to aquatics. Coaches and athletes in every sport have similar goals: giving a full effort and accomplishing the highest achievement during the season and CIF.

However, athletes’ experiences vary from sport to sport. Besides the team-bonding trips and freshman sacrifices, the LBHS water polo and swim teams are notorious for tough workouts.

“The biggest challenges of both water polo and swim are just getting through the season. These sports are difficult physically and mentally and require a ton of desire and willpower,” said senior Natalie Selin.

Both of these teams practice for about 25 hours a week, in addition to time spent playing in competitions. Every day these teams have four to five hours of rigorous training. They usually have two competitions a week: one on a weekday and then one during the weekend.

“If you want to play on the water polo team, you have to prepare yourself to fully dedicate your time to the team,” said Selin.

The water polo team usually has three morning practices and six afternoon practices a week; they go from 5:45 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. and from 2:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. Between practices, athletes concentrate on getting good grades in school.  

“The biggest challenge during season is doing school work and getting enough sleep,” said junior Joe Laptin.

Before the water polo season even begins, the team has to go through two weeks of extreme conditioning known as Hell Week. Throughout these seven days, they have practices every morning and afternoon.

“It’s difficult to describe the different emotions you experience through hell week; every single day makes you a different person. At the beginning, you hate yourself for choosing the sport that you did, but by the end, you realize why you did it. Hell Week makes you a tougher person,” said Selin.

Aside from the brutal work, Hell Week helps build the team chemistry that is indispensable for a team sport. The whole team does the workouts together, and they share the pain with each other.  

“Hell week not only made my team stronger but made us bond. It’s hard times like these where you get to know someone on a whole other level,” said junior Judge Washer.

After water polo season, the players continue pushing by starting swimming on the school’s swim team and doing club water polo at the same time. They have a conditioning day for the new season that is called the 100x100s.

“100x100s is a team wide event and is our biggest fundraiser. It’s also a great team building experience for the swimmers. They swim all hundred 100s together as a team,” said swim coach Beth Weber.

One hundred 100s literally means 100 yards of swimming 100 times. The athletes swim for two or three hours straight with a five-minute break after completing half of the workout.  That’s 400 laps in the pool.

“I love seeing them work together as a group and encouraging each other when it gets tough towards the end,” said Weber.

However, the feedback varies from person to person. Some athletes thinks that it is helpful, but most of them just want to get through it as soon as it possible.  

“The psychological aspect of the 100x100s is much more valuable than the psychical aspect. It builds confidence because after that swim set, it feels like you are able to do anything,” said Washer.

Despite the huge commitment on the part of the swimmers, the coaching staff is sympathetic to the overall demands of a student-athlete.  

“I think the hardest part for the swimmers is balancing all of their school work with demands of practicing five times per week. Those who are able to manage their time well and get solid workouts in at each practice are the most successful. That is not easy to do,” said Weber.