Tiger News Issue 1, 2019-2020

8 • Sports
Oct. 2019
Streamlining success: Swimmers fly towards future
by MOLLYGRACE HARRELL
online executive editor
Yousef Bahgot, sophomore
Sophomore Yousef Bahgot
has been swimming with
the Dolphins for five years and
currently swims for the Central
team. He enjoys the competition
that he gets from the swimming
environment, and enjoys how it
continually pushes him.
“I like the feeling when you
get to the wall, and you can look
up at your time and see that you
won a best time,” Bahgot said.
A swimmer achieves a best
time when he improves his time
from the last time he swam a
certain event.
Bahgot was born in Egypt
and lived there until he was
four. His family speaks Arabic at
home, so he has learned the language
by hearing and conversing
with his family throughout his
lifetime. Bahgot also occasionally
takes lessons.
“Sometimes my parents
make me take lessons. I don’t
like it. Arabic is just a hard language,”
Bahgot said.
Although Baghot enjoys
being a student athlete, the
workload is a lot; he gets about
five hours of sleep nightly before
waking up for morning practice.
Already investing in his future,
Bahgot considers himself an
Olympic hopeful. Bahgot still
has citizenship in Egypt and
hopes to one day compete at the
Olympic level for his country.
The prime time to be an Olympic
athlete, according to Bahgot,
is when he is a sophomore in
college.
“If am not there by the end
of college, then I’ll probably
stop,” Bahgot said.
For the time being, however,
Bahgot is at the top of his
game. He currently holds record
times for his age division, 14-16,
not only for Egypt, but all of
Africa. For the 100 free lcm (long
course meters) event, Yousef’s
best time is 53.84. For the 200
free lcm, his time is 1:57:09,
and his 200 fly lcm is 2:10:33.
His best time for the 1500 free
lcm is 16:49:89.
He continues to train when
he visits family in Egypt every
summer in addition to his training
in the U.S. during the school
year.
“In Egypt, I went to a practice
with them two years ago,
and it’s pretty much the same as
here. They’re both pretty intense.
You have to get up at the
same time. The only difference
is during Ramadan when you’re
fasting, you have to practice at
ten till twelve because that’s
when you break your fast, and
you’re not supposed to practice
while fasting,” Bahgot said.
Egypt is a predominantly
Muslim country, and this
cultural difference from the U.S.
impacts many aspects of life.
Ramadan takes place from April
23 to May 23 and is a month of
prayer and reflection in which
Muslims may practice swam, or
self restraint, as is directed by
one of the five Pillars of Islam.
Ramadan comes to an end with
Eid al Fitr, the Celebration of
Breaking Fast, in which communities
come together to celebrate.
Rachel Zhang, senior
Senior Rachel Zhang swims
competitively for the Dolphins
and for Central. While Zhang
keeps up with her physically
demanding athletic training,
she also maintains a rigorous
academic load in addition to her
social life.
“Asian parents are really
focused on school, so at first
they (my parents) didn’t really
want me to swim a lot, but once
they saw that I was getting good
they let me do my own thing,”
Zhang said.
In order to juggle her
sports, academics, volunteer
work, and college preparation,
Zhang says that time management
is crucial to keeping up
and staying successful.
“You have to know to prioritize
school work and sports over
being on my phone, and I lose a
lot of sleep. I do not sleep. I get 5
hours of sleep a night because I
go to bed at 12 and wake up at 5
something (for practice),” Zhang
said.
During a typical day, Zhang
gets an early start for practice,
then goes to school before going
back to practice and finishing
whatever activities she must
complete for the following day.
Because of her busy schedule,
family time is usually spent on
the weekends when she has
more free time, and during the
weeks her parents try to help
her out as much as they can by
making her lunch to save time
and letting her do her homework
in peace.
“We train for 4 hours a
day, 3 and a half, and then
photo provided by RACHEL ZHANG
Senior Rachel Zhang’s fastest time in the 100 yard freestyle is 51.77 second. She went this at the 2019 Region VIII Speedo
Sectional Meet on March 10.
right when I get home is dinner,
shower, and I immediately start
my homework. I don’t go on my
phone because if I go on my
phone, I’ll procrastinate and lose
track of time,” Zhang said.
Although her days are often
hectic, Zhang is glad to be part
of a team that supports her and
enjoys the friendships that the
swim environment creates.
“Getting to see my teammates
and the funny moments
that we have makes it worth it,”
Zhang said.
Zhang wishes to continue
swimming in college; she went
on a recruiting trip to Dartmouth
Thursday Sept. 26. While
in college she wishes to study
to become an oncologist. She
peaked her interest in this field
during summer volunteer work
at the UAMS Cancer Institute.
Rachel stays connected to
her family heritage through language
because her family speaks
Chinese to her at home. She
says she responds in English,
but nevertheless she is still able
to keep up with the language.
“I can hear it. I can kinda
speak it, but I’m not really good
at reading it. That’s the only
thing that got me through the
AP Chinese exam because they
spoke Chinese to me all the
time,” Zhang said.
Zhang used to visit China
every other summer when she
was in elementary and middle
school, but now volunteering
and home training keeps her
in the U.S. However she still
remembers a few small cultural
differences. Because the roads
and highways have so many
lanes in China, crossing pedestrians
often stop in the middle
of the road to let cars pass.
Zhang says she got used to this
one summer because she had
been there for two months, and
she forgot it was not a common
practice in the U.S. When she
returned, she was hanging out
with her friend, Jessie Bates,
and the pair were walking across
Cantrell after getting ice cream.
While Bates ran across the
whole street to beat an oncoming
car, Zhang stopped in the
median to let the car pass before
she would continue walking. The
driver, however, did not know
what Zhang was doing and spun
his tires out while braking to
avoid hitting Zhang. She and
Bates walked away when he
got out of his car to inspect his
tires.
“I just stopped in the middle
of the road,” Zhang said.
For the time being, Zhang
is spending her time trying to
finish high school strong and get
everything in order for college
and the next phase of her life.