by Sam Frye ’13
As the buzzer sounds David Koritkoski pushes off the wall to begin his last high school race in the 100-yard backstroke. This was a familiar feeling for the seasoned swimmer. By his senior year he had been swimming for nearly 12 years and had not lost a 100-yard backstroke race since sophomore year.
Now Dean of Students at the Williston Northampton School, as well as the varsity swim coach, David Koritkoski, more commonly known as Coach K, looks back fondly on his swimming years in high school and college.
Koritkoski grew up in Middletown, Conn. At the age of six, he joined the swim team at the local Y.M.C.A., where his brother had joined the year before and really enjoyed it. Koritkoski has been in the water ever since, swimming competitively through college as well as lifeguarding during the summer.
Koritkoski attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst MA, again following his brother, and swam at a NCAA Division I school. Swimming at such a high level took a lot of hard work and determination. Koritkoski stated he chose to go to college at a place where he would be good at swimming but there was also room for him to work his way up. Koritkoski stated, “The big difference between high school and college swimming is in college the training never stops.”
The college swimming season goes from September to February. During the season there were two practices a day, at least two hours each. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays one session was in the water while the other was on land. The land practices would vary between weights and cardio. On Tuesday and Thursday both practices were in the water. There was also a Saturday practice in the water.
During the off-season there was still training. However, there was only one practice a day. All this training was not new to Koritkoski; however, who had been swimming year round since he was young. Koritkoski’s high school coach George Baldwin stated he was, “An extremely self-motivated individual who is focused on swimming, has a positive attitude, and is a great team leader” (Hartford Courant 4/6/94). The only time Koritkoski took off was in high school for golf season in the spring.
College swim meets are longer than high school meets. The standard was 200 meters of each stroke instead of 100. Also the 1000-yard freestyle was swum in every meet. College meets had two breaks for diving, one break for one meter diving and another for three meter diving. Like in high school, men and woman competed at the same time.
With such intense training and long meets the swim team was always with each other. Koritkoski stated that in college “swimming equaled my social life.” He spent a majority of his time with the team.
Koritkoski finished his senior year at college in 1999 as the captain of the UMass swim team and an All Atlantic 10 Conference backstroker. Staying motivated to swim that long was not a challenge for Koritkoski. He said, “It’s what I’ve always done and I was really good. I believe it’s easier to have motivation when you’re really good.”
Koritkoski now coaches the Williston Northampton School’s girls and boys’ swim teams and enjoys doing that. He says it keeps him close to a sport he loves. Koritkoski misses the competition of college swimming but not the training.
Lindsay Richardson, a junior at the Williston Northampton School, spoke fondly of her experience with Coach K. “He helped me improve and motivated me. I don’t want to disappoint him. He’s really supportive.”
David Koritkoski has touched the lives of many swimmers and will continue to do so. He knows what it means to train hard for what he loves and enjoys passing on this experience to his swimmers.
