Emily Ryczek: Sherwood Swimming
Emily Ryczek is constantly seeking new ways to improve her performance and her speed during various meets.
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Emily Ryczek had victories over Quince Orchard in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 25.13, the 100 meter in a time of 1:05.01 and the 200 meter medley relay in a time of 1:56.07.
Photo By: Suwan Ohrt / GamedayMD.com | VIEW GALLERY
During the course of the race, Ryczek wears her opponents down as her speed and intensity forces these various opponents to adjust.
Photo By: Suwan Ohrt / GamedayMD.com | VIEW GALLERY
SANDY-SPRING, MD - Contrary to what many people believe the sports of swimming and diving require dedication, focus and drive. This is because when someone is participating in such activities they will often use other muscle groups that they do not use during their everyday life.
As a result, swimming is a much more challenging sport that requires constant focus to ensure that you are not only doing the different strokes effectively but you are also using every part of your body to cut through the water faster to win the various races.
In the case of Emily Ryczek of the Sherwood Girls Swim team, she obviously has all of these different elements with the way that she has destroyed opponents so far this season.
A good example of her overall dominance can be seen with the recent victory of the Lady Warriors over Quince Orchard with Ryczek winning the 50 meter freestyle in a time of 25.13, the 100 meter backstroke in a time of 1:05.01 and the 200 meter medley relay in a time of 1:56.07.
Speed and Intensity
When you look at Ryczek as a swimmer it is clear that some of her strongest attributes are: to start out strong and then pull away from opponents. This strategy has allowed to her to overpower some of the most challenging swimmers by forcing them to start out hard early.
Then during the course of the race, Ryczek wears them down as her speed and intensity forces these various opponents to adjust. Once this happens you will see her quickly pull away from the rest of the pack, at which point the race is over.
This is a strategy that has been used continually throughout Ryczek's high school career and has helped the Lady Warriors become a force to be reckoned with as far as swimming dominance in Maryland is concerned.
This can be seen by looking no further than the WCAC Metros last year when she was able to use such a strategy in helping to break Good Counsel's 12 year winning streak of the event.
A Desire to Become Better
One of the biggest problems facing most athletes is the ability to become caught up in their own success. This is not the case with Ryczek who is constantly seeking new ways to improve her performance and her speed during the various meets.
To do this she is constantly working on times in the pool, lifting weights and focusing on making her finishes even stronger. While Ryczek, is clearly not the most dominate swimmer in the state, this overall desire to become better than she is what always keeps her in competition with the best.
This is because she is willing to combine her natural talents with a never ending desire for constant improvement. Like many of the other swimmers who have come out nowhere and went on to bigger things, Emily appears to have the same kind of drive and focus.
This could be the one factor that could help her be able to become a more challenging opponent later on in the season as her overall technique becomes even better.
It's a Family Thing
One of the most interesting points about Ryczeck's personal life is that her father is Dan Ryczek. He played offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angles Rams for many years.
This relationship with her father has allowed Emily to be able to take his insights from the world of football and apply it to her swimming. This has helped her to become even more dominant although she is only a junior.
As result, Emily has a deeper desire to go the extra mile because her father was able to instill in her what is necessary to become a champion.
When you put this element together with her overall natural ability, the desire to constantly improve and the mental toughness shows that she has the same attributes which can only be found in the best of athletes.
This is what make Ryczek someone to watch this season, provided that she can maintain her times and she stays focused means that Emily will more than likely be one of the swimmers that will be in the hunt for the Nationals this year.
