Meeting the Swim Requirement
Sayo Ajagbe ’24 stood on the edge of the Helen Newman pool ready to jump into the deep end and attempt the swim requirement for the second time that day. He looked over at his close friend Alejandro Cuellar ’24 who had supported, coached, and encouraged him all day. They locked eyes in a look of understanding - this is what we’ve been practicing for. This. Is. It.
An admittedly mentally and physically exhausted Sayo took a deep breath and jumped in.
“Something in my brain just clicked,” Sayo said. “I was like, this has to happen right now.”
***
Earlier that day, at the back of the line of students waiting to take the swim requirement at Helen Newman, Sayo’s mind was racing.
“That was like the deepest water I had to swim in before,” he said. “It was nerve-racking,”
Coming up to their turn, Alejandro and Sayo jumped in and started to swim. Alejandro made good progress, ultimately completing the requirement with relative ease. For Sayo, it was a different story.
“I don't know what it was, something just broke in my mind,” Sayo said. “I just stood up and that was it, they told me I failed because I stopped.”
Sayo could either try again that day, come back another day, or enroll in in the Learn to Swim Physical Education class to meet the requirement. Alejandro had strong feelings about these options.
“We’d been talking about this for the past year since we’d gotten to know each other,” Alejandro said. “I said to Sayo after his test, ‘I'm not going to let that happen, you will pass, you know this and can do this.’”
He started to look up available pools to practice in at Cornell and around Ithaca. Many were closed or under construction.
“We ran over to Teagle, but the pools were closed,” Alejandro said. “I had an Island Fitness pass over the summer, so checked there but that was closed as well. Same with the Cass Park pool. I was even thinking we could practice at Stewart Park in the open water.”
A bit of luck came when Alejandro called the local YMCA, located a few miles north of campus, and asked if they have a pool? Is it available for recreation swimming now? Did they have a day pass they could buy?
“They said yes, yes, and yes,” Alejandro said. “So, I looked at Sayo and said, ‘perfect, let’s go!’”
Sayo was understandably frustrated for not meeting the requirement that morning, but Alejandro’s belief in his ability convinced Sayo to practice in hope of returning the Helen Newman later that day and meet the requirement.
“Alejandro really encouraged me and shouted: ‘I know you can do this; we can get this done, I promise I can teach you how to swim to pass the test, but you need to do your part,’” Sayo said. They drove over to the Y, purchased day passes, walked into the pool, and started practicing a swimming rhythm for the his next attempt.
Seeing his close friend starting to act like a coach, Sayo’s frustration began to turn into hope and belief.
Starting slow and communicating with a lot of back and forth – what they say is a strong element of their friendship – they agreed that an adjusted backstroke was the best approach.
It was tough going. When he would get off rhythm, Sayo felt like his confidence was crumbling further apart. But he kept pushing. Alejandro kept pushing.
“After practicing for what felt like so long, my arms and legs cramping, I was able to finish three laps of the pool,” Sayo said. “I finally did it and done a version of the test. It only happened the one time when we were at the Y, but Alejandro just kept saying, ‘you did it!’”
The elation of this victory quickly turned into panic. Checking that they were on track to get back to Helen Newman for the day’s 4:00 p.m. requirement deadline, they realized that was not the right time. The deadline was 2:45 p.m. It was now 2:30 p.m.
They ran out of the YMCA in their swim gear, jumped in the car, and started driving. With water dripping on the upholstery of their seats, they headed toward North campus as fast as they could.
But, after a few minutes of frantic driving, they found themselves looking up at McGraw clocktower and the Johnson Museum in the distance. They had taken a wrong turn down Route. 13 and were now by Wegmans and WalMart, miles away from campus and the pool.
“It was 2:40 p.m. with five minutes to go,” Alejandro said. “I honestly don’t know how we made it back to campus in time, but we somehow did.”
***
Brigitta Putnam, associate director of physical education and aquatics programming, watched with widening eyes and growing excitement as Sayo made his way through the first lap to the second with Alejandro yelling encouragement as he followed him walking up and down the side of the pool.
“I didn’t know it was possible to teach someone how to pass the requirement in less than a day – after being unsuccessful at 9 a.m. and spending several hours at the Ithaca Y to later return at 2:46 and succeed!” Brigitta said.
But it was possible and after a long day, Sayo’s fingers touched the pool wall to complete his final lap.
“The motivation and patience in Alejandro as he coached and watched his friend complete one lap at a time. The trust and determination of Sayo to not give up. You could see the perseverance and shared experience between the two friends that got them through,” Brigitta said.
With stress washing away as they left the pool, euphoria took its place as Sayo and Alejandro got back into the car.
“We just looked at each other and couldn’t believe we’d been through such a spontaneous and crazy day,” Sayo said. “We were just in the car driving around campus playing loud music, laughing, and feeling like we were on cloud nine.”
“For Sayo to not be a comfortable swimmer to working the way he did that afternoon and coming through with the confidence to pass the test at the end of the day,” Alejandro said, “That was definitely the most memorable experience I’ve had at Cornell, one that I’ll remember for a long time.”
Sayo had similar sentiments.
“The only way I could describe it was just, immense feeling of gratitude towards Alejandro for having done this for me and helped me complete something that I've been worried about since I had gotten into Cornell,” he said.
“But the entire day, just the series of random events, random occurrences, some setbacks, and just a lot of luck got us to where we needed to be,” Sayo continued. “It was honestly, the most rewarding feeling I felt in my years here. It was done.”
By Stephen D'Angelo, Communications Lead: Health and Well-Being at Student & Campus Life
Read more: "The Swim Test: A (Wet) Rite of Passage for Undergrads"