How Not to Drown

Stuyvesant’s boys’ varsity swim captain Yitao (Tommy) Wang teaches us how not to drown.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Frederik Schutz, Yashna Patel

Issue 8, Volume 114

By Tommy Wang

Name: Yitao (Tommy) Wang

Grade: 12

Height: 5’10”

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Date of Birth: October 24, 2005

When and how did you start swimming? How long have you been on the Pirates, the Stuyvesant varsity swimming team?

I joined [the] Pirates in 2022, sophomore year, because freshman year was COVID.

What strokes do you swim, and what skills/strengths are involved?

I swim all four strokes, but my best is freestyle. You need to learn to use a strong pull to connect and sync with your kick. You also need a lot of endurance and learn to accept drowning.

What is your most memorable moment with the Pirates?

Down 44-47 to Francis Lewis in the semi-finals of the 2022-23 season—there was the 400 freestyle relay left to go. Our chances were slim because the other team’s relay won Division A Championships a few weeks before, beating our same relay by around two seconds. Anchoring the A relay, I knew we were down a solid two seconds (which is a lot in swimming). I had to get a personal best (PB) in order to catch up and win for the team. Long story short, the deafening cheers from my teammates pushed me to go that PB, beating the Francis Lewis A relay by a mere 0.03 seconds. Our B relay swimmers were the real heroes who went on to catch up and beat Lewis’ B relay. At the end, we won and advanced to the City Finals with a final score of 51-50.

Do you have any plans to continue swimming in the future or in college?

I want to join as a walk-on for the college I get into. If that’s too much, I might join their club team for swimming.

Do you have any premeet superstitions or rituals?

Grind Fortnite to remind me that sometimes you need to go in the storm to heal yourself. Personally, before every meet, I go get a bacon, egg, and cheese from Ferry’s. That is the secret to swimming fast and not drowning at every meet. Before the meet starts, I am very outspoken and give a long speech to the Pirates about the hard work we’ve put in during practice, and I remind them to have fun racing. Then we go out and we do our team chant, which is the BEST in the league, and there is no competition. Then we win.

What does a typical practice look like?

1000 yards technique warmup

Repeated short interval sprint training, 500-1000 yards

Longer Interval main set covering all strokes, 3000-4000 yards

Resistance training, consisting of bands and towers, 30 mins

100 yard sprint for time off the blocks

What are your short and long-term goals this season?

My short-term goal this year is to have a higher distance per stroke while sprinting. My long term goal is to lead the Pirates to win the 2023 City Championships, which Stuy hasn’t done in six years.

What are the best and worst parts of swimming?

The best part of swimming is eating and sleeping after practice. Racing your friends during practice and building new friendships in the sport are a close second. The worst part is drowning during a lactate set.