Dylan Ha, photographed for the MHS Athletics' Twitter page during winter of last year. Photo courtesy of MHS Athletics.
Senior and Swim Captain Dylan Ha has been swimming for the MHS team since his freshman year. He mainly competes with breaststroke. Before joining the MHS team, Ha started by competing with the YMCA swimming team, The Crocs.
As one of the captains this year, Ha described his responsibilities: ¨Being a captain has definitely been a learning experience for [him],[ he] needed to step up and take initiative on team matters is somewhat new to [him].” Ha also talks about helping conversations between the teammates. “As a captain, [he acts] as an extension of the coaches…like a middle-man between the swimmers and the coaches, [he] makes sure all important news goes out to the team and anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable talking to the coaches comes to [him]. More importantly, [He] [is] responsible for being a leader to the team – making sure they’re staying on task, giving advice and guidance wherever [he] can”.
Although this year’s team is smaller than the previous, Ha explained that it won’t change their chances of winning. He elaborated “[they] have significantly less people while racing much faster teams than previous years, so [their] priorities are to do the best [they] can now, but focus more on building the team back up for future swimmers”.
Ha spoke about the preparations they have had before the season even started. [They] held captain’s practice in order to get [their] returning members back into shape for the season and to get new members used to the structure of practice and swimming in general. In order to prepare for this new, stronger league, [they]…shifted [their] mindset on winning [and] losing.¨
Ha’s personal goals are “to place at states and sectionals”. He also included what he thought the team needs to improve on. “[His] goals for the team [are] [to] improve overall and to keep [his] head held high throughout the entirety of the season”. He hopes that by the end of the season they will have been able to accomplish this.
As a student athlete, Ha said that he maintains his time for both academics and sports by “[focusing] on what’s important, putting school and academics first. [He] [fits] athletics around education and work from there to try to maintain time.¨ During his free time, Ha relaxes by “watching TV and listening to music” and anything that will make him comfortable.
