By: Luke Hardy
01/16/2024
SEATTLE – O’Dea varsity swimmer Jack Skarda is known for his amazing talents in the sport. Weather that’d be breaking O’Dea records with each following year, or swimming in the Junior National Tournaments for the past 2 years, and so much more.
However, there is a whole other side to Skarda’s life that is barely talked about, his day-to-day life as a student as an O’Dea student.
Skarda has been swimming his whole life and has accomplished so much in his time doing so, however, he has a great responsibility balancing that part of his life with his academics.
“I would say it’s all about putting 100% focus on what you’re doing in that moment,” Skarda said.
Having two separate parts about your life requires a lot of, and for Skarda, he showed that his focus is not what’s ahead, or how he can manage these two different lifestyles, rather he focuses on the present and makes sure that he puts all effort in that moment.
Skarda talks about how he’s handled this situation, however, there are some hard times that come with it.
“When I put on swim or school on top of the other, the lesser one will suffer, but I just have to work with those situations.”
With recently commiting to the University of Wisconsin, Skarda will have an even bigger task. He says that he is excited about the opportunity that he has and that he feels he will be able to do even greater things next year.
“I have a good understanding on how to balance school and swimming right now in high school, and just being on a couple visits to Wisconsin, the people there I know will be a great influence for me,” Skarda continues.
Skarda knows that next year is going to be one of the toughest challenges that he’s had, but he is excited for the year to come, and he knows that swimming for Wisconsin is going to be a great experience for him.
However, Skarda is not the only person on the swim team who has the challenge of balancing two different lifestyles.
Joseph Jackson, a junior at O’Dea, is on the varsity football team as well as on the varsity swim team. Jackson, however, has the task of getting to school from Bremerton every morning.
Jackson wakes up almost 4:00 AM every morning to make it to school on time and is home just before he goes to bed.
Jackson has found a true form of brotherhood in two very different environments in O’Dea, one being the football team and the other being the swim team.
Having two different sports that Jackson takes part in, means he is barely home with his family. Jackson said that the people he spends his time with make every second of it worth it.
“What we have at O’Dea is unique and I wouldn’t trade anything for it,” said Jackson.
Jackson has given a lot of his time to these two teams over the past 3 years, and he says he loves it.
Even with his having to get up early every morning, Jackson still has been to almost every morning swim practice starting at 5:45 AM, this is due to his close friendships with guys on the team.
Jackson instead of going home, goes to his friend/teammates house, Ethan Read, and they carpool in together. This type of friendship makes being away from home for almost 2 days at a time high school sports so special for Jackson.
Rather than seeing your friends and teammates at school and practices, Jackson is seeing them almost as much as he sees his family.
The friendships that Jackson has made have been so wonderful for him. He has made connections with people that make him excited to go to practice, even though he is still a few hours away from home.
Both Skarda and Jackson have a lot that they both have to deal with, but they make their circumstances work out.
Looking at the results of these, Skarda has become a phenomenal student-athlete who is going to the University of Wisconsin this fall. Jackson has become an icon for the swim team, someone the younger swimmers look up to with his work ethics and his commute.
Both Skarda and Jackson have worked hard over the past number of years, and they each have gained so much from their hard times and how they were able to overcome these challenges.
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