On March 13th, 2020, everyone at Indiana University was preparing to go on a week-long spring break. For the Swim Club at IU, it was the time where they started to discuss their end-of-year plans for the club, including their annual national meet which took place in early to mid-April.
Many team members had already bought their tickets for the meet, which was supposed to take place in Greensboro, NC, but many others on the team were left scrambling after COVID forced FINIS a cancellation of the 2020 national meet.
Advisor, professor, and coach Bill Ramos took initiative on the situation immediately after hearing the team would not be able to travel down to North Carolina. “It was a very challenging time, and also a very weird situation for me because I’ve never had that happen during the 21 years of the club.”
What Ramos and all the other members of the club didn’t know was that it was going to change things for quite awhile.
As the spring semester of 2020 came to an end, members of the team were already anticipating how the club would adjust by the fall semester, especially the newly-elected officers. The man in charge of the team was newly elected president Sean Dorsey.
Dorsey joined the club in the fall of 2017, his freshman year at IU. Three years later, Dorsey was headed in to his senior year at IU with the pressure of running a club in the middle of a pandemic. “The toughest part for me was getting new members to join, then making them want to stay on the club. There was no recreational fest, no welcome week events, and no time to recruit anybody at the beginning of the year.”
President of the team Sean Dorsey speaks about the toughest parts from this past year.
Now, more than 13 months after Indiana University decided to pause all on-campus activity and switch to remote learning because of the pandemic, it’s finally starting to become normal again.
Although recreational and club sports still aren’t back to 100 percent functionality, things are looking up.
The Swim Club at IU hopes that they can remain strong after facing the toughest year ever as a club. Right now IU plans to have in-person classes scheduled for the fall, which could mean club sports returning to full-swing.
Ramos, who has been sidelined from the pool deck for the past year due to pandemic protocols, believes that even if he isn’t on the pool deck with his swimmers, it will all work out.
“Not being on the pool deck for this past season was hard. Those are the highlights of my days getting to see all my swimmers, hear stories, and help students with their problems.”
And although Ramos wasn’t on deck this year he still gives the credit when credit is due.
“Sean Dorsey faced the most challenge year a president has ever faced in the 21 years of this club existing. He performed like no one else has.”
Advisor and coach Bill Ramos talks about the history and meaning of the swim club.
With more than 100 non-active and active members still on the club things look very promising for the future.
For more information on the Swim Club at IU follow them on Instagram at swimclubiu or on Facebook at Swim Club at Indiana University.
