Chapter 2

We left for a competition on Thursday. It was an easy meet on Friday and a very tough meet on Saturday. The kids were still a bit unfocused after the incident with Tina Workowski and after dealing with Candy and her change from swim team member to team manager.

Some of the girls had been profoundly affected by Tina’s rape. Terri had been especially hit because she had been raped in high school by a senior who just knew that once she got fucked she would no longer be a lesbian. That did not end well for the boy as she reported the rape and the boy was tried and convicted as an adult and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Terri and Deena and Simon were all lovers. Terri was a lesbian and loved Deena, Simon was gay and loved Deena and Deena was intersexed and loved them both. They had explained at a party one night that while Simon would suck Deena’s penis, Deena would suck Simon’s penis and Terri would eat Deena’s pussy. Then Deena and Simon would share giving oral sex to Terri.

Candy and Carla were keeping a close eye on Terri; and Simon and Deena held her hands on the bus trip. When they got to the college they were racing the next day, they got off the bus and headed into the pool to workout. The pool was 50 meters long and 25 yards wide and was set up for racing in the 25 yard course.

In this configuration there were twenty four lanes to swim in and the host had set aside six for the State team. The kids got changed in the locker rooms and made their way out onto the pool deck in their team uniforms. They moved to an unused area of the deck and the men’s and women’s team captains led the team in stretches.

Coach O’Dell and his assistants had a meeting and finalized the entries for the Friday afternoon meet. The kids divided up into their practice groups and the practice began. Coach took the distance swimmers; Candy took the sprinters and the assistants took the medley and stroke specific kids. Since the next day’s meet was not going to be a challenge, the coaches worked the kids pretty hard.

When they were done with the workout, they showered, dressed, and got back on the bus for the short trip to their hotel. The Coach always stayed at hotels that served breakfast in the mornings and had restaurants within walking distance. After everyone got their keys and before everyone settled in their rooms, they meet in the lobby for a quick meeting.

“OK, calm down everybody. This is an easy night. Go have dinner. Come back and take care of any homework or studying you need to get done. I want lights out by 11pm and I want everyone down for breakfast at 8am. Remember wear your team uniform to dinner and act like you are proud to wear it. Nobody goes in groups of less than three people. You all have your per diems, so you should be good there. I am in room 204 if you need me. Questions?”

“Yeah Coach, where are you going to eat?”

“I am going to Applebee’s with the assistants and Candy. You all saw that there is also a Texas Roadhouse and that Chinese buffet.”

“Would you mind if we joined you?”

“You kids know that you are always welcome, but we are just going to be talking some boring stuff and teaching Candy how to be a boring team manager.”

“We know.”

The majority of the team went with the coaches. Two groups of three went to the steakhouse.

At dinner, the coach’s did talk about dull stuff having to do with training and record keeping and the boring dry side of the sport. (Dry side means things having to do with administration. Wet side means it has to do with the training and work they do in the water). Coach was spending a lot of time talking directly to Candy about her duties at the meets and during the trips.

When they were done they paid their tabs and on the way out the manager came up to Coach O’Dell and told him how impressed he was at the way the kids handled themselves. He was used to seeing college kids come in on teams and act like fools. He invited the team to return any time. Coaches like to hear those kinds of things.

While they were walking across the parking lot the group met up with the six that had gone to the steakhouse. Everyone had a good meal and except for one incident where a drunk man tried to pick up one of the girls, everything went smoothly. The six swimmers all stood up and got the managers attention and asked if he would please take care of the situation. They were acting in a proper manner and the manager thanked them and apologized and took 10% off of their bill after having the drunk escorted from the building.

Lights went out at 11pm with no problem. The Coach never had to worry about males and females switching rooms or sneaking around. Their code of Team is Family gave them a sense of pride and the kids would never violate that code. Even team captains Carla and Paul, who were engaged, would never try to sleep together on trips, even though they lived together at school.

In the morning, Coach was down early, as usual, and was having a coffee and some waffles from the waffle maker when Terri came down. She had not slept well and wanted to talk to the Coach.

“Coach O’Dell, may I talk to you?”

“Of course, Terri. Good morning. How may I help you?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I can’t get Tina out of my mind. It is really bothering me. You know why. I am just wondering why now. It’s bothering me that it’s bothering me.”

“Terri, I don’t know that you have been around anyone else that has gone through what you and Tina went through. I was amazed that she handled it the way she did.”

“I know, but the Family gathered around her and she took strength from that. If it didn’t get to her that bad, why is it getting to me?”

“I don’t know. Let me think on it this morning and I will meet with you later. OK?”

“Yes Coach. Thank you.”

“No problem Terri. Get something to eat. You have three big events today. You get to swim the 500 and 1000 Frees and the 400 IM. That is a nasty triple. Plus you need to spend some time studying or sleeping if you did not sleep well last night.”

“Yes sir.” She turned and made a beeline for the waffle maker. Swimmers love waffles and chocolate milk!

The rest of the team was down at 8AM like clockwork and back in their rooms to study until lunch. They all went to the Chinese buffet for lunch and loaded up on veggies and rice before going back to their rooms for quiet time and then loading the bus for the drive to the pool.

The meet pretty much went according to plan. State was a whole level better than the host team, and swimming them was not a big challenge to the State swimmers. The coach of the host was a former swimmer of Coach O’Dell’s and he always brought in kids they were trying to recruit so that they could let them know that they got to race against some top notch teams.

State was so far ahead at the halfway point of the meet that Coach swam his fastest kids as exhibition so as to not run up the score. It was always a help in recruiting for the smaller school to show that they only lost to State by 16 points instead of 140 points. The Coach even had a gift for his new team manager. He allowed Candy to suit up and anchor the 400 yard Freestyle Relay, the last event of the meet. Her time was a good solid time. It was not great, but it made her feel like she was still a part of the team.

After the meet they went back to the hotel, went back to Applebee’s and then hit the sack for and early departure the next morning. The only thing that occurred that was out of the norm was that Terri got a phone call at dinner. The caller was Tina Workowski.

“Hi Terri, This is Tina.”

“Hi Tina! What are you calling for?”

“Well I got a call from Coach. He seemed to think that you were suffering some bad memories after what happened to me during my visit. He said that you were having trouble dealing with your situation from three years ago and asked me to call you.”

“Wow! The Coach is a gem. Everything you said is true. You know that I was raped in high school and I thought I had dealt with it, but last week all of those feelings came back and I don’t know what to do. I can’t sleep, and I have been getting scared walking around campus. I don’t know what to do?”

She began to cry.

“Terri, all I can tell you is what I did and how I dealt with it. I talked openly about it with my mom and dad and I really accepted the love and support of my new family. You guys, when was the last time you talked about this with your family on the team?”

“I never talk to anyone about it. I barely talk to Deena and Simon about it.”

“That means that you are holding it in. Anything you hold in gets old and moldy after a while. It starts to rot. I think that you need to gather around as many teammates as you can and talk to them about it. They love you if they are really like they were for me. They will be there so that you do not have to carry this pain by yourself. I am surprised that you haven’t confided in them before. They are your team and your family after all.”

“Thanks Tina. I guess I forgot all of that and was not a very good team member. I will do that tonight before lights out. Thanks for calling.”

“No problem. Call me back or text me and let me know how it went. I am sure you will be a lot happier. Good night.”

“Good night.”

The next morning the team gathered in the lobby for a quick breakfast. They finished, cleaned the area, leaving it cleaner than when they got there, and loaded up the bus. The Coach was always the last one on the bus. He got on, checked the roster and signaled to the bus driver that all was well. The driver got on and off they went.

The Coach looked for a moment at his team. Carla and Paul sat next to each other as did Terri and Deena with Simon sitting next to Deena but across the aisle. He scanned the small groups that never developed into cliques. They were subsets of one big family.

The bus rolled into a parking lot at lunch and the kids all loaded out and walked into the buffet. They ate wisely, except, perhaps, for the large amount of ice cream that was consumed. They got back on the bus and settled in for the rest of the trip. Kids listened to music, studied, read eBooks or napped.

When the bus rolled into the parking lot at the U, the Coach asked everyone to stay on the bus and he would be right back. He spoke quietly to the driver and left the bus. After entering the natatorium, he made his way to the pool office and found the U’s head coach. They spoke for a few minutes and the Coach left to return to the bus, while talking on this cell phone.

“OK, kids relax. Our friends here have decided that we cannot practice here. I had a feeling that this would happen since we broke the U’s winning streak last year and since we upset them at the conference meet. I guess they don’t want to allow us any opportunity to be ready for them. But you know me.”

He looked at the driver and spoke in a grandiose manner.

“Eddie! On to Plan B!”

Eddie was the bus driver that they always requested for every trip. Eddie had been driving the team for over a decade. He was a wiz guiding the huge machine through many tight areas without ever having an accident. Eddie pulled out of the drive and off of the campus. A few minutes later the bus pulled into a high school parking lot and stopped in front of the gym.

“OK, I will be right back. Many of you remember Brian Sellers from when he swam for us a few years ago; well he is the coach here at Oscar High School. He has offered us a place to work out and prepare for the meet tonight.”

Coach left the bus and walked into the building. A few minutes later he walked out with another guy and a security officer. The three of them got on the bus.

“OK kids clam down. This is Coach Sellers. He has gotten us cleared to use the high school pool. The security officer has to talk to you, so please pay attention.”

“Hi kids. We have a security issue at this school. Drugs and that sort of stuff. So please go to the pool first, then to the locker room to change, then back to the deck. Do not leave anything in the locker rooms, do not go into the locker rooms by yourself. If you need to use the restroom one of you go while the other stands near the door so they can run out for help if anything happens.”

“Damn!”

“Yeah, I know. I’m really sorry, but that is the world we live in here at Oscar. Anybody have any questions?”

No one did, so they got off of the bus, Eddie had the bays open so the kids could grab their equipment bags and the whole herd walked into the building.

The pool was a very nice eight lane 25 yard pool. It had a great seating area and good deck space. The kids began their stretching and their dryland exercises. They were about 15 minutes into their 30 minute routine when the doors at the far end of the pool opened and a group of kids came in. Coach Sellers waved at them and pointed them to the bleachers.

“Those are my kids. I got clearance to get them out of class so they can watch what a real swim team does. They think that I am kidding them.”