Coppell senior captain Emil Aaltonen moved from Finland to the United States in seventh grade and took up swimming in place of his former sport, floorball. Aaltonen is one of five varsity seniors who have experienced the different coaching styles of both former coach Rick Whittlesey and current coach Marieke Mastebroek.
Emil Aaltonen
CHS senior captain Emil Aaltonen, one of two male captains on the team, moved to Coppell from Finland in seventh grade. Since his former sport, floorball, is not popular in the United States, he moved on to swimming to fill in the gap. Aaltonen, a short distance swimmer with a personal best of 56.07 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly, intends to swim for a club past his high school years.
How would you compare the coaching styles of the previous and current school coach?
There are some key differences. What Coach Whittlesey did was he did a lot more competition-style things and he had a lot less intrinsic motivation involved and personally, I actually kind of liked that. Coach Marieke essentially — because she was almost an Olympian herself, so she as a child or teenager had a lot of intrinsic motivation — she assumed we would have that level of motivation and drive she used to have. That kind of led a lot of people to not try as hard, but it led the people who tried very hard to be very successful.
How close are you with the other members of the swim team?
I would say very close, especially with the other seniors and the juniors. With the younger members, less so, but I’m still close with them. We practice together all the time, and we’re united for a non-academic reason, which takes away a lot of the professionality that we have to have. Like, if you’re with your classmates, it’s different than being in a sport together. It’s a deeper bond because we do things most people don’t together.
How does the small number of seniors affect the team?
It contributes negatively to the success of the team because usually, the older members of the team would be faster, but to the social fabric of the team, there are fewer leaders, so many of the juniors have had to step up more than usual. It makes things a little bit different. There’s not a clear difference, but when I was a freshman, for example, there were a lot of seniors. The older members of the team were a lot more dominant, but now the younger members of the team are a lot more represented.
What is your favorite memory?
Probably my last meet at regionals, just because it was the last meet. That was my most successful meet, and I got to swim for the last time. It was nice, [and] I guess a little bit sad because I knew I wouldn’t be with these people anymore, but it was also a happy moment because it was a good culmination to end my season.