When thinking about a swim team, the constant laps, the relay times, the different events, and strokes come to mind. What isn’t often thought about is what happens on deck behind the blocks- while the swimmers are in the water.

Anne Shuai was born in Canada and moved to Florida at the age of 5. Shuai’s family moved to Oviedo because her father received a teaching job at the University of Central Florida- and a visa as well. Shuai, being his daughter, received a Dependent Visa.

“Because I am not the actual visa holder, my visa expires every single year,” Shuai said.

Shuai is the Oviedo High School Varsity swim team manager. She didn’t start off this way, though. Joining freshman year, she wanted to compete, only to discover that her athletic clearance could not be passed.

“I found out that I was not able to be cleared because my visa expired,” Shuai said. “It expires in August, which is the start of the swim season, and doesn’t renew till February which is the time the season ends.”

Even though she was not able to be in the water with the team at the Oviedo Aquatic Center, she found a way to be a part of the team every Monday through Thursday- and sometimes Saturdays- at practices and meets.

“Freshman year I just did the practices, so my sophomore year I asked if I could be the team manager,” she said.

For Shuai, being a team manager was a way to still be with the team without being able to compete.

“A lot of people on the team are people that I swim club with and have become friends with,” Shuai said. “So I wanted to continue to support the team.”
As a team manager she works with the coaches, Charlie Rose and Eric Christensen. Rose serves as General Chair for Florida Swimming, and Christensen still swims competitively, as a 17-time Masters National Champion and the current World Record holder in the Short Course Meter 400 IM.

“My favorite thing about being a team manager is getting to know the coaches on a level that as a swimmer you can’t,” said Shuai.
In addition to building bonds with coaches, Shuai has a multitude of tasks during practices and meets, including, but not limited to, attendance, keeping track of clearance, scheduling, parent contact, and time taking.

“I take times for relays and find the difference between the times for splits. I also am in charge of taking attendance during practice,” Shuai said.
These split times from relays can help determine who goes to championship meets, like Districts, Regions, or even States. Shuai keeping track of times also allows swimmers to be motivated to get faster with each relay, be it the 200 Freestyle, 400 Freestyle, or 200 Medley.

Shuai also tries to build stronger bonds with the swimmers on her team, almost being a third coach for the team.

“Anne is just so supportive, and is usually the first person I go to even before the coaches because she has the same level of knowledge about the team that the coaches have,” senior Maddy Baczek said.

Shuai tries to bring a lot of support not just to her team, but specifically to the freshman on the team.

“I remember how it felt to be a freshman on the team, and how isolated you felt especially if you didn’t have any friends. So by trying to help the freshman feel more a part of the team then they will continue being on the team, and promote swimming,” Shuai said.

Baczek is a 4-year varsity swimmer and has been friends with Anne since the first day on deck freshman year.

“Anne knows how the team works, which makes her always someone that I know I can rely on,” Baczek said.

Shuai uses her role as team manager to improve her own swimming skills.

“When I watch someone swim, I can pick out things that our coaches tell us not to do,” Shuai said. “Now I can visually see these things through the team’s swimmers.”

She uses these tricks to find mistakes that the team makes and tell them how they can improve.

“Anne has helped out the team by showing the newer swimmers a pathway to making it through the season,” junior Ayvree Chandler said.

Shuai also decided to become a team manager to improve her leadership skills. Wanting to take that next step as a person, and become someone people can ask questions to, and truly rely on for help.

“From being a team manager I have learned how to coach swimming and different ways to communicate better which helped my teaching skills,” said Shuai.

Shuai always tries to be supportive of her team through her role in order to make the best team possible.

“Anne is what I would call the team mom. She knows how to answer each question, and is welcoming with a warm heart and always offers to help,” Chandler said.

As a senior Shuai wanted to make her final season special by becoming the best team manager she could be.

“My goal this year is to help my teammates and coaches in order to try and lessen the responsibilities of the coaches,” Shuai said. “With this, they can now worry more about the individual swimmers, and give them more advice.”

Assisted by Shuai’s support in practices, the girls’ team went undefeated until the Regionals. Then, girls and boys placed 8th and 10th in the state.
After high school, Shuai hopes to use these team manager skills further on in her life and plans to attend college.

“These skills are skills that you use on a day-to-day basis, and by improving these skills it will help me in the long run,” Shuai said.
Though Shuai faced challenges in staying on deck, she “managed” to maintain her role on the team.

“It sucks that Anne can’t swim for the high school, but I am glad she is our manager because a lot of stuff would not get done if she wasn’t there,” Baczek said.

This story was originally published on Oviedo Journalism on November 18, 2024.