New Viking On The Block

Looking back on my freshman year as a student athlete, I remember feeling both excited and intimidated for my swimming career at Woodbridge. I decided to reach out to a fellow swimmer who is an incoming Freshman to get his thoughts on his high school experience thus far. Enter Sam Mussie, a member of the Woodbridge High School Class of 2026 and Woodbridge Swim team.  

  I wanted to hear how Sam was handling being in a new school with an opportunity to represent Woodbridge, participating in the sport he loves most, Swim. First, I wanted to get an idea of Sam’s background in the sport. Sam started swimming at the age of 7 and did the usual swim lessons. He progressed to joining a summer swim league and his team of choice was the Ridgewood Barracudas, which happens to be just down Old Bridge Road and right by Woodbridge Senior High School. A team near and dear to my own heart since I too started my team swim career with The Barracudas. With a couple years of swimming under his belt, Sam and his parents decided to make the leap to Club swimming with Occoquan Swimming (OCCS).  

  Sam has had a very positive experience with the Woodbridge Swim team so far. “Everyone has been very friendly and helpful.” He thought some of the older swimmers might aloof and ignore the freshman but this has not been the case. A few of the upperclassmen, including myself, are also members of OCCS. He was happy to see some familiar faces at tryouts. Swim tryouts this year were broken up between boys and girls because Covid made it necessary to engage in smaller groups.  “I feel the Swim community is pretty tight. I saw so many familiar faces at tryouts that it actually made it much less intimidating”, Sam expressed.

  Practices have started and there have been many as the Woodbridge swim team is more than halfway through the season. Sam will do mostly his Club team practices so Woodbridge’s coach Chris Bodmer can focus on the swimmers who don’t swim year round. “Coach Bodmer sometimes asks a year round swimmer to demonstrate something like a flip turn or start off the blocks. It feels good to be able to use your skills and knowledge to help someone else. Not to mention it boosts your ego a little.”, Sam said with a laugh.  

  All in all, Sam has been excited for his freshman year of swimming at Woodbridge. He looks forward to the weekly pasta parties for team bonding and seeing some OCCS teammates who have advanced into higher groups due to age, skill and commitment levels. “I feel this new chapter in my swimming career is going to be fun and rewarding”, stated Sam. I plan to catch up with Sam as we progress through the season to see if his feelings have changed.