Many students around Floyd Central all have talents and passions we may not be fully aware of. For Senior Eli Coomer, that passion is swimming.
Starting with swimming lessons around a decade ago, Coomer has found a passion for competitive swimming here at FC. He competes with a school team and a club team, and this way he is able to do swimming year-round.
He is also involved in the school outside of swimming and is dedicated to school, his sport, and his clubs.
Overall, Coomer is hard-working and passionate about what he does. Read the full interview below!
How long have you been swimming for?
About a decade.
How did you get started in swimming?
I started up with swim lessons, and then it kind of turned into a passion to where I started competitive swimming, and then it just grew on from there.
Do you participate in any other school clubs or sports?
I mean I’m a year around swimmer, so I compete with the high school and then, like with a club team. I mean, I'm in National Honors Society and just general clubs throughout school.
What clubs are you a part of?
Interact and Caring community. That's about it. Also National Honors Society.
How do you keep your grades up, and how does your involvement impact your performance in school?
Lots of studying with my little free time that I have. Also dedication. It's really hard to balance both, but if you stay diligent it works.
When you have other clubs and stuff going on, how do you balance that with schoolwork?
That’s a tough question. I mean, it's not that hard. I just usually get there after school. Or they're in school, so I'll just find some time to work those in.
Does school affect your performance in your sport?
Emotionally, no. Yeah, but it definitely takes away time that I could be working.
What is your favorite part about swimming?
Well, it's considered an individual sport, but it's also a team sport at the same time, so everyone is involved. Especially when it comes to relays and stuff, so when we're all working together, hyping each other up, it's a lot of fun.
How do you hype each other up? In what ways are you kind of a team?
That's tough. I mean, it's different for everyone, but usually for the boys we're yelling at each other, stuff like that.
How has swimming connected you with other people?
Swimming is very broad. There's, like a lot of people that you can interconnect with, especially since it's not, like boys and girls compete similarly until you get to state and stuff. I've met a lot of people on different teams. For example, we went up to a meet, Center Grove Invitational meet or something like that, and I'm able to meet a bunch of different people from other teams that I'll see during club meets and stuff like that.
Do you like that part of it too, like the social aspect?
Yeah.
In what ways do you like that?
It is cool to see other people that you've been with.
Yeah, like, it’s a community?
Yeah.
