Relationships can be interesting, and when a couple adds a team relationship dynamic, they can get even more interesting.
Six couples within the USD swimming teams have brought a new meaning to synchronized swimming.
“It’s a proximity thing,” freshman swimmer John Dolan said. “It’s easier to be attracted to somebody when you get to know them more.”
John Dolan has a girlfriend who is also on the swimming team, and said the team’s romantic relationships come from all of the time they spend together in and out of the pool.
Competition and practice brings them together, but the team also chooses to spend time together outside the pool as well.
Sophomore swimmer Shannon Moreci said the swim team is pretty social, and has good chemistry.
“We’re team that tends to stick together,” she said. “We look out for one another.”
John Dolan’s brother is also dating a teammate. Coincidentally, the Dolan brothers are dating senior Christin and sophomore Madisen Roberts, who are also swimmers.
Dolan’s brother said he finds the two relationships to be kind of awkward, but John Dolan, on the other hand, has no problem dealing with the added connections, he said.
Dolan said that his relationship with a fellow teammate “just kind of happened” due to proximity, but that there are other factors that affect the dating scene on the team.
“Swimmers like others who are really talented,” Dolan said, “It’s like we’re attracted to that swimmer’s talent.”
But the team’s closeness can cause a ripple effect when team couples break up.
“With all the drama on the swim team, I don’t see breakups going well,” Moreci said. “I’ve seen pretty bad break ups in the past, and they weren’t very great.”
John Dolan said he saw little wrong with having relationships with teammates, although he said it certainly wasn’t all good or all bad.
“There’s definitely pros and cons,” John Dolan said, “We like being around each other, but we also like to get away.”
Freshman Tyler Haddix is an outside party when it comes to team relationships. He’s also a swimmer who socializes with his teammates frequently, but when it comes to competition, he said the relationships are put aside to focus on the action in the pool.
“(Relationships are) good for the most part,” Haddix said. “I’m not going to judge other swimmers whether or not they’re dating.”
Freshman Maxwell King says the same about the team’s performance and swimming.
“We just go out there and know that the team is important when we swim,” he said.
Reach reporter Gabe Mambo at Gabe.Mambo@usd.edu.
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