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10/09/2015 12:00 AMThere’s a certain degree of artistry involved with swimming the breaststroke and Molly Duffy is the type of athlete who will spend as much time as it takes to master her craft.
Coming from a family with a vast swimming background, Molly’s been in the water for years and she’s always excelled in the breaststroke, while enjoying its intricacies. Two years ago, Molly took her talents to the Indians and made an instant impact by qualifying for the event at the SCC Championship. Since then, she’s made a point of seeking advice on how to refine her technique and subsequently putting those things into practice. Molly’s diligence paid dividends at last fall’s Class L trials, when she swam her personal-best time, and then followed that with another stellar showing at the championship meet.
Molly is now a junior at North Haven and Martha Phelan loves coaching her because of Molly’s desire to study hard so she can swim fast.
“Molly is just determined to become a better swimmer. If something doesn’t go right, she talks to me, I tell her what I think, and she absorbs anything I pass along to her. Molly takes it all in and that plays a big part in her success,” says Phelan. “Last year was a breakthrough year for Molly. She went from a 1:16-1:17 at the beginning down to a 1:10, which is phenomenal. The breaststroke is the hardest of them all and Molly’s had a huge impact in that event and in her leg in the medley relay. She’s also getting better and better in the sprint freestyles. Molly is a big part of this team and scores a lot of points for us.”
Molly says she likes both the physical and mental challenges of competitive swimming and how those aspects coincide. Molly gets physically prepped as part of the Indians’ top training group during their two-and-a-half hour practices. Then when the horn sounds during a meet, Molly’s physical stamina meshes with her mental fortitude and, quite often in the breaststroke, the result is a fast time, a first-place finish, and a wonderful feeling.
“Martha puts up different quotes and one of them is about how practice is 90 percent physical and 10 percent mental, but competing is 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental. You already have the physical fitness, but it’s a matter of never getting down about how the meet is going or something that happened during that day. You have to trust your body and that the training you’ve had is good enough and know you can do it. I’ve learned over time that no matter what happens, when you get in the water, something clicks and you just go with that,” says Molly. “The reward that you get of knowing you’ve done your best, it’s indescribable. You feel so great and proud and it’s just a combination of everything—of accomplishment, exhaustion, relief, satisfaction. It’s just total relief.”
Such was the case for Molly when the Class L state meet rolled around at the end of the 2014 season. Molly had certainly turned in a solid time of 1:13.13 in the breaststroke at the SCC Championship, but when the spotlight came on for the state competition, Molly shined brighter than ever behind a pair of premium performances. First, Molly shattered her previous best time by nearly three seconds with a 1:10.57 at the qualifying portion of the Class L event. Then once it was time to swim for keeps, Molly went a 1:10.78 that earned her 14th place and wave of warmth from her family.
“I was really surprised by how well I did. The excitement of the meet and all the nervousness and stress motivated me. It can go either way, but at that moment, it just worked out and things came together really well. I know how to control it and used it to my advantage,” says Molly, who’s slated to manage the boys’ swim team this winter and continue with tennis in the spring. “I looked up at the scoreboard right away and saw I dropped two seconds, which is a really big difference for one meet. Then when I got out of the pool, I saw my family. My aunt and cousin and mom, dad, and sister were all happy for me and I didn’t even know that all of my family was there. That was a nice surprise and it was really great.”
The Indians’ showing at states was the culmination of an excellent season that saw them finish with a winning record and claim their first victory over perennial powerhouse Branford in program history. North Haven has carried that momentum into this season with its 3-1 start and now gets ready to face some of the tougher teams on its schedule, including the Hornets. Molly says she wants her squad to use a spirited approach to try and match, if not top, last season’s success.
“We want to work as hard as we possibly can and try to better expectations and really surprise ourselves. We can do it if we stay determined…The past few years have been great with how well we’ve been doing and I’m proud to represent our team,” she says. “One thing that’s big on our team is spirit with the little things we say to keep motivated and the spirit we have during meets…When we’re seeing our teammates race against these really great teams and coming insanely close and everyone is screaming and shouting, that’s a great quality. Our team shows support for one another in many ways.”
Coach Phelan appreciates how Molly uses her positive personality to foster spirit among the Indians and the good news is that she gets to work with the top-notch swimmer for one more season next year.
“Molly always has something nice to say. There’s always a positive aspect to anything she shares with me or in a group setting with the team and that affects everyone around her,” says Phelan. “She’s a great role model.”