Having a population of only four in the Upper School community, little is known about the rare specimen: the Trojan swim team. Before, they blended into the other species of students, but now they are easily identifiable due to their unique coat of hair, or rather, lack thereof. In order to prosper in their natural habitat, the pool, these swimmers, travelling in a group known as a “team” (i.e. team of swimmers, or swim team), have shaved their heads to bond and advance their species to become faster in the water. Because they are social creatures, the Upper School swimmers bond by shaving, swimming, and playing pranks on each other throughout their most prosperous swimming season, winter.

On Feb. 7, the swim team gathered in the Highland Park pool locker room to shave their heads. The bulk SPARKS Trojans, a co-op team of swimmers from Highland Park School and St. Paul Academy and Summit School, participated in the somewhat chaotic process of shaving their heads.

“We had two razors going, all the captains were shaving,” sophomore swimmer Josh Westfield said.

“The majority of the hair didn’t end up in the trash can,” freshman swimmer Matt Suzuki said. Regardless of the mess, shaving heads together is one of the swim team’s strongest traditions.

Though the swim team may have had fun while shaving, they actually have a very important goal in mind: to be faster in the water. “Swimmers shave to expose more of their skin so when they dive into the water the cold shocks their bodies to move faster,” Westfield said.

Suzuki disagrees with this theory and believes that shaving is more useful in reducing drag in the water. “If you don’t swim with a cap, hair slows you down,” Suzuki said. In addition Suzuki points out that the whole swim team wears swim caps anyway. “The real reason we shave our heads is just for fun,” Suzuki said. Regardless of which theory is correct, it is important to use any advantage you can get in a sport where fractions of a second matter.

But Suzuki may be correct; because swim caps help prevent drag, head shaving is more of a team bonding experience than a competitive necessity. This allows the team to be more free thinking than just a buzz cut in their hair style choices. A few swimmers, including Suzuki, attempted Mohawks and SPA eighth grader Breandan Gibbons tried a reverse Mohawk, a hairstyle where only a strip of hair down the center of the scalp is shaved.

“We discussed that somebody had to get a reverse Mohawk and [Gibbons] volunteered first,” Suzuki said. Though some were adventurous most of the swimmers decided on a more conventional style.

“Most of us just went for the buzz,” Westfield said.

The reverse Mohawk is just one example of the swim team’s zany, fun-loving mentality. Throughout the season they are constantly pulling pranks on their coach and on one another. “If we are not swimming we are either getting yelled at or doing something we are not supposed to do,” Suzuki said. Before practice the team usually warms up by throwing things in the pool then fishing them out. “Anything we can find that we can get out of the water we put in the water,” Suzuki said.

Before practice, the swimmers have either submerged or floated rubber ducks, basketballs, coins, numerous pool accessories, chairs, and even a desk. The fun doesn’t stop there for the swim team. The swimmers often mess with their coaches as well. “Our coach, Katy Vandam, brings healthy food to the pool,” Suzuki said. “We stole a piece of cauliflower from our coach’s lunch and we’ve been putting it around the pool deck, none of the coaches knew about it,” Westfield said.

Suzuki mentioned that in addition to letting the cauliflower sit and rot in a hidden spot on the pool deck the team managed to sneak the rotted cauliflower into their team photo. Supposedly it was smuggled into the picture under a swimmer’s shirt then at last second it got pulled out and was added to the picture.

Though the swim team knows how to have fun, don’t think that they aren’t serious about their sport. When they get to a swim meet or are swimming in practice they are very focused. “Every practice we swim about 4000 to 5000 yards in total,” Suzuki said. The swim team also has traditions to get pumped up before a meet. “At the Central meet we all got into the locker room and start screaming as loud as we could to get pumped up,” Suzuki said.

Throughout the season the swim team works hard but still leaves plenty of time to goof around. Playing pranks on each other and doing things like shaving heads brings the team closer together so they can compete as a unit during the season. “Most days everyone gets in the pool by someone pushing them in,” Westfield said. Their care-free mentality creates an environment where it is more fun to compete and get better.