As the season of Halloween approaches, a lot of people get into the scary movies or traditions surrounding Halloween. But for swimmers, the only scary thing is not being able to shave those hairy legs until taper season.
Every swim season, the girls team starts a no shaving competition. At the end of the season, the person with the longest leg hair will win a Starbucks or Dunkin gift card.
While people do love a good coffee or refresher, it is not the only reason swimmers do not shave. Shaving at the end of the season has proven to be a way for swimmers to drop time in their races. Growing out their leg hair creates a drag and slows the swimmer down.
According to an article published in WOUB Public Media, “It just creates a less aerodynamic feel in the water. [Shaving] allows you to be able to feel the water a little bit better while you’re at it.”
By shaving their legs, the team is able to become more aerodynamic in the water and allows the girls’ times to drop at NVL’s, states, and state opens.
On average, according to the National Library of Medicine, swimmers’ times can improve by 23% after shaving their legs.
This year, the girls swim team implemented a no shaving rule on the night of their first meet. By not shaving their legs for almost nine weeks, it will no doubt aid in the girls team dropping time at the end of the season.
In years past, some girls have dropped almost ten seconds by shaving their legs and tapering. Tapering is what every swimmer, including Olympians, does at the end of the season right before championships.
Tapering is when swimmers will enter more sprint-based workouts and will decrease the amount of yardage that they are swimming in a day. This aids muscle recovery and builds their speed; this way, once they are at a meet, they can swim faster.
Shaving and tapering are things swimmers look forward to all year, and they help them swim fast.
“Shavering and tapering gets my mind ready to race,” said Junior Molly Mays. “It’s the first step in a familiar race day routine.”
By getting into a solid routine, swimmers have it down in their minds that it is time to race and time to go fast. This year at NVLs, swimmers hope to drop time from their taper whether it is with a shorter or a longer taper before NVLs.
By tapering this year, it will no doubt aid the girls team in being their best on race days.
