Profile: Clara Formby

Logan Smith
October 19, 2009
Filed under Fall Sports, Sports

So you want to do well in school, as well as participate in extra-curricular activities, and be on an athletic team, right? While all of us are not fortunate enough to be able to tackle all three, sophomore Clara Formby manages.  Clara sat down with me and gave some tips on how to handle a hectic life, as well as what she likes and doesn’t like about swimming.

TYJ: How long have you been swimming?
Clara Formby: I’ve been swimming for Hammond Hill Swim Team since I was five, so about eleven years. But I’ve been swimming for the Varsity team since I was in seventh grade.

TYJ: How did you do this year?
CF: I didn’t make it to state, but I dropped fifteen seconds off my 100-yard butterfly since the beginning of the season.

TYJ: What interests you the most about swimming?
CF: I spend all my summer at the Hammond Hill pool life-guarding, and swimming comes naturally to me. All my siblings swim, so I was kind of born into it. Plus I like the fact that no one smells bad, because we all smell like chlorine.

TYJ: How do you find time to be such an involved student?
CF: I live by my agenda! I dedicate a certain amount of time to swim practice, then I do all of my homework, and if I can, I try to go to church.

TYJ: Do you plan to keep swimming all through high school?
CF: Yes! I definitely want to continue swimming throughout high school. However, I don’t want to swim in college. For a club maybe, but not for the school itself.

TYJ: Is there anything you don’t like about swimming?
CF: Well, towards the end of September and the beginning of October, it gets really cold, especially when we have morning practices! When I first jump in, my legs go numb and I’m freezing, which is bad because I hate being cold! Plus it’s not exactly warm at 5:30 in the morning. But I warm up within the first eight or ten laps.