The Lyons boys swimming team’s participation in the Trevian Relays at New Trier on Saturday was important for multiple reasons.
For one, it gave the defending state champions an idea of where they stack up among a 16-team field featuring several teams Lyons expects to battle for top spots in the state finals next month.
Another significant reason for going to the Trevian Relays is that New Trier’s pool will be the site of the state meet. Not only should this make Lyons swimmers feel more familiar with their surroundings when that event arrives, but it also will help with team-wide visualization exercises in the weeks leading up to state.
Lyons head coach Scott Walker, now in his 22nd season, is a big proponent of swimmers’ visualizing their races; so much so, that pre-sectional and pre-state practices can include team-wide visualization sessions lasting 45 minutes to an hour.
In these sessions, held in the school library or at the pool, lights are turned out and swimmers clear their minds before picturing every component of their upcoming races.
“We get pretty heavy into visualizing, so when they get to the state meet, they don’t have to do a lot of thinking, they just kind of swim,” Walker said. “They visualize the pool, being behind the blocks, how they will take their swims out, swim into their walls, attack the middle of a swim and finish a swim.”
Walker said he’ll even activate the pool’s starting system for the visualization to begin, though swimmers are encouraged to pay attention to the timing clock inside their mind.
Walker, a former high school standout who went on to swim at Western Illinois, said his three older brothers, all of them swimmers, first taught him the value of visualization during their childhood in Kankakee.
It’s unclear what role visualization plays in other swim programs around the state. Certainly other swimmers are instructed to picture their races, though an informal poll of swimmers and coaches from a handful of other programs at the Trevian Relays did not uncover any team that prioritizes visualization as extensively as Lyons.
“I think visualization plays a big part in our success at the end of the season,” said junior Henry Claesson, who lives in La Grange. “I’m sure everybody (on other teams) does (visualization) to some degree, whether setting a goal time or visualizing an entire race. But if I had to guess, I would say we probably do it more than other teams.”
Claesson said he first learned about visualization at a youth swim camp at Indiana University, and said it’s a skill he has improved over time. Where once he was only able to visualize a swim while in bed the night before a race, he said he’s now able to go through the visualization process in any number of locations.
“I think it’s different for everybody,” he said. “It’s important for me to visualize every stroke in a race. I’m sure there are other people who don’t need to get as enveloped in the process.”
Lyons senior Matt Linden said he did not fully embrace visualization when he first arrived at the school. After his first state meet appearance, he said he took it more seriously. Coming off a state team title in 2016, Linden said he hopes Lyons’ success convinces the program’s young swimmers about the value of visualization.
“It’s kind of strange for incoming freshmen,” Linden said about visualization. “But this team has a long tradition. … All the upperclassmen will testify that (visualization) definitely helps, that you want to take it seriously. Some kids, who maybe don’t appreciate what it can do, will just sleep (during visualization sessions). But kids who have been there before, have been to the big meets, they know how important it is.”
On Saturday, Lyons (186) finished third at the Trevian Relays behind Stevenson (195) and New Trier (187), and ahead of Neuqua Valley (154), Waubonsie Valley (141) and Hinsdale Central (141). Some teams fielded relay lineups slightly diluted from those that will appear at the state meet. Additionally, several teams, including Lyons, were in the middle of an intense period of training.
The team of senior Ryan Hammond, Linden, senior David Rak and Claesson won the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:27.68). Claesson finished second in the 50 free (21.61), junior Jeff Vitek came in eighth in the 100 butterfly (53.96), Hammond finished fourth in the 100 free (48.60) and junior Spencer Walker was second in the 500 free (4:45.76).
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
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