PREP SWIMMING

Love of Sport Is Evident For Rams' Geschke

By CRISTINA LEDRA The Tampa Tribune

NEW PORT RICHEY - Joey Geschke was an active 5-year-old looking for a new sport when his mind keyed in on the one in which he would become a standout by the time he made it to Ridgewood.

"I was doing soccer first but then my mom said 'Do you want to try another sport?' and I said 'Yeah let's try swimming' because I always thought it was playing with beach balls, volleyball in the pool and I'm like 'Yeah, that sounds fun' and my first practice I was like, 'What? You have to do this?'," Geschke said.

A freshman for the Rams, Geschke is hard to miss before he gets in the pool with straggly blond hair, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound body and swirly multicolored swim shorts with happy faces and peace signs.

Once he's in the pool, Geschke becomes one of Pasco County's top young swimmers, versatile enough to go in any event from sprints to distance and in all relays.

Geschke is one of four boys on Ridgewood's swim team so, while it's unlikely the Rams will win a meet this season, he is always working for personal aspirations that unsurprisingly include a berth to the state meet and a top-three finish.

Initially surprised at all the work and laps involved in being a competitive swimmer, Geshcke fell in love with the sport shortly after that.

"In soccer you didn't have to do anything, you just run back and forth and kick a ball, and swimming, it's a hard sport because you definitely have to have the endurance and the strength to do it," Geschke said.

Since he started swimming all those years ago, he has developed a work ethic that has been the reason why he has done so well.

"He really doesn't need much help from me to be honest," Ridgewood coach Melissa Welch said. "He does his own thing. He does the workouts that we give him and he does extra."

Geschke also swims with the TBay club swimming team before school and after Ridgewood practice every day.

"He swims so much he can't help but improve his times," Welch said.

Because he's a freshman, he has only started swimming in high school, but he already enjoys it.

"I think high school swimming is fun," Geschke said. "It's good competition, you've got different teams going at the same time so I think I'm doing pretty good this year."

At last week's tri-meet with Gulf and Pasco, he won all of his events, including the 500 free with ease, and he is hoping that continues into the postseason.

"Swimming is a love-hate relationship, but it's mostly hate because it's really, really hard to drop times and always win, so you definitely have to keep on trying at it - even if you do bad - you have to keep on trying," Geschke said.