By Siena Oliver, ’27

Staff Writer

The Hanover-Marshfield Swim and Dive season ended in historic fashion this year. In a series of Patriot League meets last weekend, the girls placed second out of eight teams and the boys placed fourth. Although the girls didn’t win the League meet, they swam an undefeated season and are the overall Patriot League Champions for the first time in HHS history! In addition to working hard in practices and at meets, swimmers have had another challenge to overcome: how to get to and from meets without school-sponsored busing

Since the winter season began after Thanksgiving, the swim team has had meets fairly consistently, ramping up to one or even two a week. Many of these meets, home or away, have been held at Percy Walker Pool in Duxbury; two of the four weekly practices also take place there. Driving to this pool from Hanover can take 20 to 25 minutes, and none of the meets have had team buses. This has left students with two options: drive themselves or figure out a ride from parents or older friends who all undoubtedly have busy schedules of their own.

Many of the meets start at 3:30 or 4 pm, but swimmers are required to arrive no later than 3 pm for warm-ups. This is almost impossible for Hanover students who get dismissed from school at 2:30, especially those with working parents who don’t get home until later. 

This begs the question why doesn’t the swim team have buses to and from meets? Many people’s minds go straight to funding. Getting buses takes money, right? So that must be the problem. While this may be partially true, Scott Hutchison, HHS athletic director, explains that it also has to do with how swim and some other winter teams operate.

Several winter sports teams practice and compete at off-campus facilities, including swim, hockey and gymnastics, Mr. Hutchison said. Buses are not provided to those “home” facilities, and often other facilities within a similar distance from HHS.  With limited funding, it is not possible to provide buses to the various off-campus venues for practices and competitions. The fact that the swim team is combined with Marshfield High School is also a factor, Mr. Hutchison added. Because it is a combined team, it quickly becomes hard to coordinate things with dismissal times, different locations, and the need for a coach to be on the bus at all times.

“As a parent, I felt like it was challenging at times to not have buses especially if the meet was right after school,” said Katherine, one parent of a swim team freshman. “When I was on a swim team in high school and college, being on a bus was part of what bonded the team and always felt like an exciting lead up to the meet.”

Thankfully, the Hanover-Marshfield Swim and Dive team has persevered and had a great season. But in the future, it would be a relief to have more busing so athletes could focus on their performances in the pool and not about how they’re going to get there and back home.