Most sports that involve racing are individual sports. They focus on your overall self-performance, fitness, and most importantly, mentality. Swimming is a sport that Niles West provides to the student body to be able to participate in. Swimmers go through routines constantly to get ready for their meets to perform their best. Swimmers typically don’t go into a race without having a trained routine.

Sophomore Stefan Simic is on West’s JV 2 swim team. He joins varsity practices but doesn’t compete in their meets. Simic has been swimming for six solid years and has developed special preparations before he breaks the surface of the water when the machine beeps.

“On meet days I always listen to music through my headphones to calm me down but also get me hype,” Simic said. “I mainly just listen to rap. Travis Scott is my favorite artist so once I tune everything out and listen to him, I start to get focused.”

Music is a common source that people use to help them focus. Many people who have a love for music like to express their music with others. Simic’s best friend and sophomore, Andi Veseli knows how serious Simic is with his music on meet days.

“I’ve known Stefan since third grade but we started to become best friends in seventh grade,” Veseli said. “Sometimes I turn on his music onto the speakers and help him get hyped. When Stefan listens to his music on meet days, it helps him get in the zone. I strictly believe his music helps him perform better because it makes him focused.”

Besides listening to music, Simic always feels the need to plan his routine the day of the meet. Varsity swimmer and sophomore Adrian Acosta believes it’s essential to plan out routines on meet days and that it truly does help Simic perform better in the race.

“Planning out the race is common knowledge and a necessity to a swimmer,” Acosta said. “If you go into a race not knowing how fast you want to go, then the chances of you winning are low. I completely relate to Stefan on this and I believe this is so smart on his behalf because it’s guaranteed to make him more ready for how he’s going to finish the race.”

Racing takes a lot of concentration and patience. It’s way too difficult to go throughout the day by not preparing yourself. Simic is very organized with the way his day works on meet days. All his readiness comes down to when his feet position themselves on the starting block and his last superstition takes over before the beep rings.

“Right before I jump into the water, I rotate both of my wrists in a circular motion and kind of just shake them up. I feel like it just warms up my hands and flexes my wrists a little bit. It’s just something I’ve been doing for a while and just makes me aware that I’m about to race and my main focus is to win,” said Simic.

Simic has his superstitions that have helped him become the athlete he is today. For someone who gets easily distracted, concentration is key to become ready to take first place.