Swimming can be a very competitive sport. Those who participate are often trying to break their own records or standing records from years past. Having a twin brother can also make a person competitive, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for Stephen and David Ip who are both on the Armijo swim team.

“My mom made me do swimming in sixth grade so I would have a sport to do,” said Stephen. “Since sixth grade, I have started swimming with SASO (Solano Aquatic Sea Otters). I’ve been to Junior Olympics with SASO every year until high school.” David likes to be on Armijo’s Swim team because “I am doing water polo and swimming is good conditioning for Water Polo,” he said. He is proud to have gone to Sectionals for Armijo as well as Junior Olympics with SASO. Both boys’ preferred stroke is freestyle. “It is my fastest and easiest stroke,” said David. “The coach makes me swim backstroke because I am good at it,” said Stephen. He admits that he is the stronger swimmer of the two, but also that he is not terribly competitive. “I can tolerate swimming with my brother,” said David, “I was the stronger swimmer before, but he became faster than me these last two years.” David shared that he probably won’t continue swimming in college. “I am getting bored of it and I am getting lazy and focusing on other things.” Those other things right now include Band, National Honors Society (NHS) and serving as an Eagle Scout. Stephen is also an Eagle Scout, but he plans to continue swimming, perhaps even at college. He hopes to attend either UC Berkeley or UC Davis. “My role model is my coach because he is a good coach and swimmer,” Stephen said.

While he may not be committed to swimming forever, David has one memory that sticks out to him. “My most memorable meet was last year at sectionals… when I climbed into the back of the van, I hurt my shoulder. When I got into the pool, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to swim and spent the whole day doing nothing. The meet is still brought up today by my teammates and coach,” he said. Stephen has a much more positive memory of swimming for Armijo. “My most memorable meet was against Will C. Wood because I got first in all my events,” he said. While he would encourage others to stay motivated and keep trying if they want to pursue sports, David took it one step further. “Do a sport that your friends are doing, or get a friend to try a new sport with you. This way you won’t be completely alone with new people you don’t know,” he said.