c/o Steve McLaughlin
“Play(er) of the Week” seeks to highlight some of the most notable Wesleyan athletes and games. Wesleyan men's swimming and diving team athlete Fritz Brethard '25 broke the school record in the 50-yard backstroke at the NESCAC Championships on Friday, February 23 with a time of 23.76 seconds. The next day, Bretard improved his 50-yard time and was also part of the 200-meter medley relay team that broke the school record by more than a second. The Argus spoke with Brettard about his relationship with swimming, his school performance, and team bonding.
Argus: So how did you first start swimming?
Fritz Brettard: I started swimming when I was three or four years old because my older sister joined the local summer swim team. And I fell in love with it because of her. My father's parents and their family are big swimmers. Both of his sisters swam in college and he played water polo in college. So I guess the plan was not just for safety reasons, but to get both of us involved in the swim. [to be] It's part of our lives.
answer: So what was swimming like when you were a kid? Was it mainly outdoors?
FB: In California, everything is outdoors. The first time I swam indoors was at Wesleyan's pool here. I had never gone inside and swam. [so it was] There will definitely be an adjustment here. But swimming wasn't a big part of my childhood. I only went swimming during the summer.
answer: When did swimming become available in college? What was the recruiting process like and why did you ultimately choose Wesleyan?
FB: Well, it was quite a late stage for me. I wasn't very good at swimming when I was young, so I started taking swimming more seriously when I entered high school, but everything stopped because of the coronavirus. So I had to do a lot of training on my own, which was a unique experience for which I wasn't very prepared. And I was just looking at schools on the East Coast. My mom is from the East Coast and she went to Smith College and introduced me to East Coast schools. So I was considering various NESCAC and similar schools, but Wesleyan caught my eye.
answer: how Can you describe the team dynamic both in and out of the pool?
FB: I think we are a fun team because we emphasize having fun. Swimming is a very mentally challenging sport because you can't communicate with your teammates like you do in other sports during practice. During the two hours I'm in the pool, I'm only thinking about myself, which is unique to swimming. [and] This is one of the most difficult parts of my job. I think what I enjoy is just bonding with the team before and after practice, even during the on-season, and feeling like the emphasis is on everyone having fun. . It's a dynamic group, so I think it's going to be a lot easier to have a season together.
answer: CNow that the season has started, what expectations did you have personally and for the team as a whole?
FB: There was a lot of uncertainty because we had a new coach and we lost the old coach. I think many people had no idea what was going to happen.Personally, I was really trying to take it one day at a time. [and] Have fun while swimming. I feel very lucky to be a college athlete, and I feel incredibly lucky to still be able to compete in the sport I grew up enjoying as a college student. . I guess my expectations were to enjoy it as much as I could and see where it led to my own time. And the same goes for the team. I don't know if everyone else had a similar mindset, but I wanted to make sure everyone just had fun without stressing or taking things too seriously. I think it was. But yeah, I think things ended pretty well for us.
answer: At the NESCAC Championships, he broke the school's 50-back record on Friday. And on Saturday, you broke that record again. How did you feel when you achieved that accomplishment? And heading into the weekend, did you think it was realistic? Did you see any of these improvements in the lead up to it?
FB: IIf someone had told me as a freshman that I would be making a record, I would have thought, “No way.”I wasn't the fastest swimmer [coming in]And I was probably a second and a half or two seconds away from hitting the 50s. This is quite a time for his 50 seconds. But going into the tournament, I think I've improved a lot from last year to this year. , and going into the match I was 0.1. [second] I was so far away from the record that I thought I would break it. But from the record she fell nearly four tenths from him. This is definitely something to be happy about. Yes, this was definitely a nice reward for all the training I had put in over the past three years.
answer: Talk about your mindset for short races.
FB: I think one of the beauties of swimming, especially swimming in our division, is that we have these 50 athletes.[yard] A race unlike most other college divisions.those are the most fun events [for me], because everything needs to be perfect.There are so many technical aspects to these events that you need to do a lot of training in midseason [and] This is because in preseason, small mistakes such as starting or turning can cost you a lot of time. So for me, I think I try to keep my mind clear during the race. You've trained so much that trying to think about something specific just ruins the rest of the race.
answer: You were part of a record-breaking team. Can you tell me what it's like racing with the other three of you? How do you balance focusing on individual performance and working as a team?
FB: Relays are definitely my favorite event. Because in swimming, it's the only time you can be part of a team and be with your teammates behind the blocks, instead of swimming alone. There is a story behind this record of 200 medley relays. We broke that last year, and last year I was in the relay, but there were two different people in that relay than this year.
answer: What was it like hosting a four-day tournament so far away?
FB: The four-day tournament is definitely tough. Luckily we only swim 2 out of 4 days. Many people on the team do big swims every day, but I focused on Friday and Saturday, which kept me very busy. [On] Friday, I swam 6 or 7 times that day. By the end of the day, I was completely pooped and had no energy. It's hard, but everything is so much fun: being in the hotel, being with the team, eating meals together.The reason it feels a little unreal is because you are here. [treated] In a weird way, it's like being a professional swimmer. We are her DIII students and we do this job on the side, but we're there being driven around, paid for meals, all sorts of things. It's definitely a really nice reward for all the training you did in the offseason and preseason.
answer: Are there any other memorable moments from this season?
FB: One of my favorite memories on the team was actually outside the pool. [playing] Several of us were on the intramural basketball team that we formed during our freshman year. We take this initiative seriously every year, even if it takes place during swim season. We play all our games on Sunday and sometimes practice if we feel like there's something that needs to be taken care of. It's a fun way to bond. I've made it to the finals every year, but I've lost in the finals all three years, so I'm hoping to finally win them all in my senior year.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sam Weitzman-Kurker can be reached at: sweitzmankur@wesleyan.edu.
