Cibola student describes teamwork, regional wins as swim season approaches

An unnamed student athlete at Cibola High School spoke during the Yuma Union High School District meeting about how swimming has shaped her school life and the team’s recent competitive success.

"It's learning how to be a part of something bigger, something about Cibola, something to look forward to at the end of a long school day really," the student said, adding, "I've been overall swimming for around 10 years. I've been here 3 years at Cibola. I love it. I love the community." The student said her favorite part of the sport is teaching less-experienced teammates, including "how to flip turn, learn how to start, learn how to do a bunch of different things."

In describing the team’s competitive record, the student said, "Me and my fellow teammates, we have made it to all region and, we placed pretty high. We've won our all region meet a couple times in a row. We're hoping to win this year, but we'll never know." She also said swimming has taught teamwork, collaboration and personal responsibility because she is a student athlete.

A second speaker praised an individual swimmer identified in comments as Lily, saying, "She works very hard, as a student athlete, and she realizes that she's an athlete second and a student first. As an athlete, I wish I had a 100 Lily. She's... all around great athlete. For swimming especially, she can swim any event we put her in. She never complains." The same commenter said Lily is "usually the first 1 in the water, last 1 out, gets all of her workouts done," and noted she participates in year-round club programs in Yuma.

The remarks focused on personal development, team camaraderie and recent regional meet results. No formal board action or votes were recorded related to the comments during the meeting.