The steaming hot air at the pool, swimmers practicing their various strokes, divers progressing through each diving category. This is all very normal for the ELHS girls’ swim team. However, this 2025 swim season, the girls got a chance to work with a new coach: Alan Opsahl.
Opsahl has a lengthy swim resume, coaching for 40 years, previously at Ledyard. He even coached against his daughters, as they swam here at EL. After retiring, Opsahl decided to coach for his daughters’ home team.
“This is just a few minutes from my house, and I’m retired now, so I can just do this. I’ve been doing it for a long time, and I enjoy it.”
Coach Opsahl wanted to make an impact on the team before the season even started.
“Coach Al started to come to some of our senior practices to get to know us and meet the whole team, as well as get to know the seniors before choosing captains,” senior captain Elsie Jacobitz said.
Once choosing captains, the coaches started working to increase the yardage of the swimmers with lots of conditioning, varying between sprints and long distance. The goal is to broaden the events of each swimmer, creating a stronger team.
Captains like senior Ruby Thoms have seen positive progress from Coach Opsahl’s coaching.
“His workouts aren’t the traditional ones that we are used to, but I think as we practice more with him, the girls will begin to feel like that is the new normal,” Thoms said.
Diving coach Holly Buckley watches from the diving end of the pool, also witnessing Olsahl’s coaching.
“I’ve seen a lot of the kids working hard from his coaching, which we will really see as we move forward to our more challenging meets,” Ms. Buckley said.
In addition to more conditioning in practices, the girls have also tried new drills.
“We do a lot of competing against each other in the team, and I have seen improvement, even in the past few weeks, our team has been getting stronger,” Jacobitz said.
Not only does what you work on during practice impact the team, so does team dynamic.
“Our team is really friendly and close-knit, but at the same time, we push each other in a supportive way,” Thoms said.
This is essential for a team to work well together, both in and out of the pool.
Not only do the swimmers’ scores go into the full team score, but so do the diving scores. The most challenging meet for the girls, as mentioned by both coaches, and the swimmers, is Fitch.
“Fitch is always a challenge, and at the away meet there’s no diving, so the swimmers have to do their best without adding in the diving score,” Ms. Buckley said.
Diving is often forgotten when thinking of the sport of swimming, but for a team like EL, it is an easy way to gain points. While this can be intimidating to many, Ms. Buckley makes it fun for her divers.
With the help of their new coach, the team has done well this season, currently 2-0. A strong team, with many athletic seniors, with the addition of freshmen will continue the legacy of the winning team.
