“I started planning it last year, because I knew I was going to be a senior this year and wanted to make it better than the first one we had,” Crews said.

While having fun was a priority, it was not the intended purpose of the retreat.

“Our goal was to bond as a team and get to know the freshman better so that we could be a cohesive team going into this year’s competitions,” senior Alex Pages said.

“It was very helpful getting to know everyone before the season started,” freshman Olivia Whitehead said. “They’re all so nice and you don’t really know how they’re going to react to you until you go to something like that.”

With no set plan, the swimmers found their own ways to get to know each other.

“My favorite part was Saturday night when we just hung out and did our own thing,” Pages said. “We all bonded the best that night when we were just doing whatever we wanted with each other.”

The activities allowed the swimmers to find out things about the others that they never would have learned otherwise.

“I got to know all the seniors, juniors, and even sophomores so much better than I would have if we just went to practice together,” Whitehead said. “Now we know what to talk to each other about so we aren’t awkwardly standing there at competitions.”

Not even the weather stopped the team from doing what it set out to do.

“I wish it didn’t rain and storm the first night,” Pages said.

The team played a wide variety of games throughout the weekend.

“We played capture the flag at night with glow sticks, volleyball, nuke ‘em, star-tripping, and a bunch of other little games,” Crews said.

Overall, the weekend was considered a success, as team bonding and fun were both achieved.

“It was a good way to start the year and I really feel like we got good team bonding in,” Crews said.