Every student knows the dread of those three infamous weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break, with eight semester exams creeping around the corner. While most were filling their spare time study guides and review sheets, juniors Joshua and Zoe Smith were in Austin, Texas competing at Swimming Nationals, only two days before their first semester exam.
Starting their swimming career in California, they swam for a summer league in their childhood, beginning at the age of seven. Since then, the two have been competing together for swim year-round.
“We’ve been able to swim since we could walk pretty much because we had a pool growing up,” Zoe said.
Their swimming lessons, which started as a parental concern for safety, grew into a love for the sport. They now compete not only for the school’s swimming team, but also a local club team, through which they went to nationals. Being the only two to go to compete, the twins view nationals as a new stage and a way to look forward to seeing what they can do next year.
“Getting to see that level of competition and racing those kinds of athletes, you know, it really gets you excited for the future,” Joshua said.
Spending three days in Austin, Joshua and Zoe competed in multiple events, Zoe getting in the final eight for her event: the 100 meter freestyle.
Preparation for Nationals consisted of practice in and out of the water, Monday through Saturday, and in morning and at night. Zoe and Josh recall counting down the weeks of conditioning until their competition.
“It’s a lot of hard work. We train, like, 18 to 20 hours a week, I’d say,” Joshua said. “I think it’s easier when you love it. And I love it. I love coming to practice every day, and I love the feeling of flying through the water.”
When competing at Nationals, the biggest meet they had ever been to, Zoe and Joshua found ways to overcome the stress by remembering the love for the work they do.
“I was really in my head about it … There was a lot more mental work that I had to put in for this meet than other meets, because I would get anxious,” said Zoe.
But both found ways to overcome the pressure bearing down on them. Being a very goal-oriented person, Joshua finds it helpful to take the process one step at a time in order to not get overwhelmed by the big goals he sets for himself.
“I think sometimes I have to just get my head away from, ‘oh, I want to go this time [in my race],’ and focus on the love for the sport and individual small goals that I can accomplish to help me get to the big goal,” Joshua said.
Zoe said that she found it helpful talking to different coaches at nationals, gathering little bits of advice from across the nation.
While Joshua was there, he began talking to many college coaches there to recruit. While Wisconsin was just another option for him at first, he and the coach began talking and ended up scheduling a visit. After Nationals, he toured the University of Wisconsin and committed there a few days after his visit.
“I was planning other visits, [but] I knew that Wisconsin was where I was going to end up,” Joshua said. “And so I was one-and-done after that visit. I knew I wanted to go there, and I committed that following week.”
Both Joshua and Zoe decided to commit to colleges for swimming; however, their process for getting recruited was different.
“There’s a day where you can officially start getting recruited, and I got like, 50 different texts, emails, just so many, by a bunch of different schools….I started over the summer, and I was talking to like, 25 different schools at first,” Zoe said.
The process of narrowing the options was a difficult one, and in the end, she set up five different official visits to Auburn, Florida State, NC State, Wisconsin, and Louisville; however, after her visit to North Carolina State, she only ended up going on three tours.
“After my NC State visit, I just knew I was going to go there,” Zoe said.
With Zoe going to North Carolina and Joshua going to Wisconsin, the twins will be in completely different parts of the country, away from each other for the first time in their lives.
“It’s gonna be weird, and I feel like a lot will be different since it’s always been ‘Zoe and Joshua,’ like ‘the twins,’ you know?” Zoe said.
All their lives, to know one is to know the other, but both of them are looking forward to the sense of individuality that comes with going different directions.
“It’s gonna be good to like, not have to be thought of as a twin. I get to go there and be an individual, and I think that’s gonna be good for both of us,” Joshua said. “I love her so much, and I’m gonna miss her a lot, but I think it’s good for us to explore ourselves.”
