By Taylor Boggs ’16, Sports Editor
Senior Allie Wooden has dedicated the last 12 years of her life to one sport: swimming. Over this time (which spans roughly two-thirds of her life), Wooden has swum on five different club teams and averaged 20.5 hours of practices a week during the winter and summer seasons. When asked to describe what the sport means to her, Wooden responded with a simply yet perfect, all-encompassing word—“everything”—and anyone can see that her commitment and hard work has more than paid off.
Whether it was qualifying for the summer Senior and Junior National US Open, making it to the State level in the high school tournament, or qualifying for Olympic Trials, the senior athlete has given her all and achieved huge accomplishments. As of this year, Wooden holds every single record for the Country Day girls swimming—this includes eight individual events and three relays. To add to her accomplishments, she has qualified for the NCAA B team which means that she has a possibility of going to the NCAA tournament if she makes the A team.
Even though her life is largely occupied by swimming, Wooden is also involved in extracurricular activities and clubs such as Archive. The aspiring athlete focuses a lot on school and she “loves watching classic movies and reading.” Nevertheless, the impact that swimming has had on her life cannot be overlooked. Swimming truly is her “life and it has made [her] who [she is] today.” The sport has given Wooden a real structure to her life and a routine to follow. “Although I have missed out on the typical teenage life, I have realized that it is a life that I wouldn’t want. I am blessed to be able to participate and to work on something that I am so passionate about,” the young athlete acknowledged.
With that kind of success, there is a level of commitment and seriousness that is involved. Allie claims, “Last year I was really intense and if I did something wrong, such as had a bad meet or practice, I would stress out and be really nervous.” However, this year she has made some changes to her attitude. “This year I am still intense and I like for everything to go well,” said Allie, “but now I am more understanding when I have a bad day. I know to not be upset and to use it as a tool for improvement.” Not only is there a new balance between tension and having fun, there are certain aspects of her training that Allie has altered this year: “I am focusing a lot more on technique and precision rather than just powering through. I have learned that flexibility is important too and I have been attending classes at Yoga Alive.” Lastly, she used to not focus on dieting, but this year she has more restricted eating habits such as limiting sugar. Wooden admitted that “It’s hard to limit to one cookie a day with cookie Wednesday,” but honestly it is worth it in the long run.
As a child, Wooden played volleyball and swam, so if there was any sport should could play now other than swimming, it would be volleyball. She loved the sport, but when it came down to choosing between the two, “[she] chose swimming.” Over the years Allie has looked up to her parents for support and encouragement. “They’ve supported me through everything, highs and lows, I don’t know where I’d be without them,” expressed Wooden. Now after the many years of practice, Wooden has committed to the University of Southern California for swimming. She beams, “I am so excited. I love the fact that I get to train under a coach that is legend for interesting workouts—I work well under sets that are more than just yardage.” She is also excited to go for the academic options at USC.
Wooden’s short and long term goals are to go to Olympic Trials in 2016 and she “would really love to final.” During her college years she really wants to win the NCAAs which would be another tremendous success. To any young aspiring athletes like herself, Wooden advises: “Never give up if you have a bad day or a bad season. But also don’t take things too seriously—have fun and enjoy what you are doing.”
