Coach Sophie Terry expresses her perspective on what she believes the 2026 Varsity Swim season will look like.
By: Abigail Zapata
When people look at the Varsity Girls Swim Team, they might just look at a group of high school swimmers. But to Coach Terry, these girls are so much more than that.
As winter sports come to a close, Redwood Varsity Girls Swim Coach Sophie Terry is ready to make statements in the pool with her well seasoned swimmers.
Behind closed doors, Coach Terry has been putting these girls to work since winter break.
Coach Terry says, “I just wanted the girls to get used to swimming before the real season started, kind of just loosening them up a little bit, get some stretches in, and all that stuff.”
Although having to compete against one of their biggest competitions, Porterville later this year, Coach Terry is going into this season with her head held high and feeling very confident with her girls.
Although losing a lot of really fast ’25 graduates, Coach Terry’s swim team seems to be filling in the gaps pretty nicely.
She said, “I’m very sad to lose my seniors from last year, I really just like them as humans, they were so fast, and they contributed so much to the team, but thankfully we have a lot of younger girls that really have stepped up into those positions.”
Coach Terry is very understanding of the trials of swim, and shares how she defines success beyond the wins and losses.
Coach Terry said, “Swim is an individual sport as well as a team sport, so I always tell the girls that if they’re nervous, I just want them to focus on their race, no matter if they get beat by someone really hard, or if they don’t do as well as they thought they would have.”
Many coaches want their teams to be remembered by how athletic they were, and how amazing their stats were. But Coach Terry on the other hand wants her team to be remembered differently.
“I always want the team to be remembered as a really good group of girls and that would be the first thing I would use to describe them. They’re all so kind to each other and on campus I feel like they’re leaders, even just to their classmates. I’m very grateful that they have created a sweet community of girlhood.”
Coach Terry, Redwood Varsity Girls Swim Coach
Abigail Zapata
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