This year, the 2010 Dimond High School swim team is off to a great start. With almost all of the remaining varsity members returning to the team, Dimond swim coach Scott O’Brien is very confident in both the boys and girl’s teams’ ability to place well at State. “This year,” Scott said, “Both our boys and girls teams are very strong”. When State comes around, he is very confident that both boys and girls will place in at least top 3. Every weekday, the DHS swim team practices from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., all working towards the same goals ¬¬– improving their times, and building strength. This hard practice and determination would be impossible without the famous O’Brien. “Coach Scott is the best swimming coach in the Anchorage School District,” Ellen Asay, a sophomore varsity swimmer on the DHS team, said. “He knows every swimmer by name and has a great relationship with all of his students”. Scott has been a swim coach for more than 10 years and has loved the sport ever since he was a child. “I started swimming when I was 5,” he said. “It brought me to Alaska, all the way from Florida, to swim for college”. His love for the sport has not been his only drive to stay in the coaching business, though. His love for fun and kids has taken a major part in his decision to keep with it, as well. “I love to coach those kids,” he said, “They keep me young. I feel like the dad of so many”. The coach may see calm, cool and collected on the swimming subject, but to many students, swimming is more than a sport– it’s what they end up wanting to do with their lives. When asked if swimming is what they would like to do in college, not one person had the same response. “Definitely not…” Kade Bissell, a sophomore varsity member, answered. “I will all through high school, though”. Asay, when asked the same question, immediately answered, “If I were good enough!” And even though some would prefer not to stay with the it through the rest of their school careers, when asked what their favorite part of a meet was, they all simply replied with one word: “After”. Austin Hummel, a junior, explained about the calming feeling he gets when he knows he has finished his meet. “I like the feeling of swimming after a meet,” he said, “when everyone’s gone. It’s quiet”. “I love the whole thing,” a bubbly Asay explained. “I just really like improving my time”.