Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 28, 1995 TAG: 9507280065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
This was the summer Carolyn Bucher was able to enjoy such simple pleasures as picking up a tennis racket, going to the beach and even sleeping late.
Now she's ready to go back to her old life - with some minor alterations.
Bucher (pronounced Butch-er) was among the most promising swimmers in Virginia when she became disenchanted and essentially took a leave of absence from the sport as she knew it.
Reports of her demise were premature, however, as she hopes to demonstrate starting today at the Duane Whitenack City-County Championship Meet in Radford.
``I'd just like to get a couple of records,'' said Bucher, who this year moves up to the 15-16 age group.
Those are rather high expectations, considering that Bucher has been little more than a recreational swimmer this summer. But, she has been ranked as high as third in the country in her specialty, the individual medley, and holds seven city-county records.
``Her strength is, she's an extremely tough competitor,'' Bucher's coach, Doug Fonder, said. ``If you're in the water and equal with her, she would kill herself to beat you.''
That killer instinct nearly ruined Bucher's career.
``I liked it when we practiced,'' said Bucher, who had been part of Fonder's year-round Gators program. ``I wanted to be pushed. That's why I was so frustrated with my swims [last winter]. I thought I was doing more and more work and not getting the results.''
So, Bucher took a step back. She left the Gators, for whom she had been practicing more than 20 hours a week, and has competed only for Roanoke Country Club in the summer-league meets held by the Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association on Monday nights. She has not practiced more than once a day or for more than two days a week.
``My swimming friends don't know what's going on,'' she admitted. ``No one really does. I guess people may think I've quit because I haven't been to Gators. My mom kept on asking me what I was thinking about with swimming and I wouldn't even tell her.''
As a 12-year-old, Bucher won the Roanoke Country Club girls' tennis championship in her age group; then, she didn't pick up a racket for three years. This summer, she started playing tennis again and entered a few tournaments, including the Commonwealth Games.
``I made myself decide between tennis and swimming [after 1992] and I was so much better at swimming that I just decided to put everything into that,'' she said. ``This summer, I guess I just got tired of doing the same sport and tried a lot of different things.
``I sort of felt like I was burned out. I don't like to say that, [but] a lot of things built up. I was like, `Maybe I need a break from this for a little while. Then, I'll pick it back up again.'''
Bucher decided this week that she will rejoin the Gators program in the fall, but she hopes to achieve some balance in her life and not let swimming consume her.
``I'm not going to deprive myself of other things,'' she said. ``I still want to play tennis on the side, but swimming will be my main priority. It's something I've been thinking about every day. I can't get it out of my mind.''
Bucher is not the first mid-teen to question her commitment to swimming. Many of her rivals from the younger age groups have turned to other pursuits.
``It gets monotonous, especially for girls,'' said James Wolfley, coach of the Blacksburg Sunfish. ``They get to a point where their body has changed and they're not seeing improvement and they have a hard time staying with it.
``One of my best girl swimmers, Ellen Dorsey, ran track in the spring and lost much of her early season training. A lot of times, it helps them to take a couple of months off and recharge their batteries, so to speak. I think it's going to motivate her to come back and swim well.''
Ordinarily, Fonder would not recommend a two- or three-month break for a nationally ranked swimmer.
``Like any other sport, you can't go back to go forward,'' he said. ``If you stay where you were last year, you're going to drop a whole lot of places. I think in Carolyn's case, it allowed her some time to sort out some things. I do believe, in my heart, it was probably best for her to escape for a while.''
``Lovable'' is not an adjective that normally would apply to Fonder, but Bucher said she has learned to love her coach.
``I think I've tried every approach with her over the last year,'' Fonder said. ``I've gone from trying to be a father figure, to yelling at her, to trying to reason with her. Basically, she is a very nice kid. I care a lot about her.''
Fonder has a 16-year-old daughter, Brooke, who swims year-round for the Gators and for the Elks Club in the summer.
``People get older and sometimes swimming is not the thing to do anymore,'' Brooke Fonder said. ``At sleepovers, I'm the one who gets up at 7 o'clock to practice when everybody else is stretched out on the floor, but I don't have any problem with that.''
One of Bucher's goals is to earn a swimming scholarship to the University of Texas, which hardly seemed possible at the beginning of the summer. Nobody knows how close she came to quitting.
``I just feel, if I do [quit], every single day of my life I'll look back and think of what could have been,'' said Bucher, who will be a sophomore at Patrick Henry High School. ``Plus, all of these little kids look up to me.''
When Bucher was thinking about quitting early in the summer, her 8-year-old sister, Holly, wanted to stop practicing , too.
``A little girl came up to me the other day and said, `My friend knows all your times. She said you're going to be in the Olympics,''' Bucher related. ``I was like, `Yeah, that was my goal.' I don't want to give that up. I can't quit now.''
by CNB