Swimming
Favorite athlete: Nathan Adrian
Favorite team: Chicago Bears
Favorite memory competing in sports: Setting the league record in the 200 freestyle relay with three great friends in the league championship meet for Lower Bucks Swim League.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I was 12, I swam an entire 1000-yard freestyle race with my suit inside out.
Music on IPod: Suburban Legends, Atmosphere, Czarface, Girl Talk, Stevie Wonder, and Westbound Train.
Future plans: Computer programmer
Words to live by: “It’s not what you can do, it’s what you’re wiling to do for it.”
One goal before turning 30: Be a successful programmer and own a company
One thing people don’t know about me: I know how to build computers.
By Gordon Glantz
For those who subscribe to the theory that everything happens for reasons we can’t explain, consider the case of Pennsbury senior swimmer Nick Lucca as evidence.
At age five, Lucca was not unlike his post-toddler contemporaries, playing the starter sports of soccer and baseball, frolicking with unabashed joy.
But there was one difference. Any time there was inevitable contact, either with another player or the ball, his hearing would fade out.
His parents, Karen and Chris, promptly took their son to CHOP for evaluation.
The diagnosis was that Lucca had EVA – Enlarged Vestibular Aqueducts.
Along with hearing loss, the diagnosis comes with a stern warning against contact sports that could worsen the condition with no cure.
Lucca was probably too young to fully comprehend what this meant, but his competitive spirit did not leave his soul.
He was at the local pool with his father, watching other kids his age compete, when a surge of energy rushed through him.
“I said, ‘I want to do that, right now,’” recalls Lucca. “And I dove in.”
And in many ways, from that first dive into the pool, he has never come back out.
From that moment on, he has been like a fish in water.
“The coach told my dad there was no need for me to try out,” he said. “That’s how it started.
“I guess you could say it was love at first sight – or love at first swim.”
Lucca – who wears hearing aids behind both ears but concedes his hearing probably isn’t any worse than some of his contemporaries with ear buds permanently attached – says his natural passion for swimming carried him for many years.
But he soon found himself no longer an automatic in the winner’s circle once the competition intensified and other swimmers began growing into their bodies.
“While I had been involved in competitive swimming since I was five years old, I was getting by on natural talent,” he said. “Guys started reaching puberty and got faster. I suddenly found that I had to work harder.”
No issue there for the team’s co-captain, who also swims at the highly competitive club level.
“I’m passionate about the sport,” he said. “No pain, no gain.”
That passion is not lost on Pennsbury coach Greg Stoloski.
“NIck is one of the hardest working kids on my team,” said the coach. “In all four years, NIck has never ceased to push himself and others, and is almost always at the front of the lane in practice.
“Nick is also one of the most concerned and self-reflective swimmers I have ever had. He doesn't just work hard and grind his gears. He is always quick to ask about technical aspects, ask you to watch and critique details of his stroke. He is often quick in doing the same for others on the team.”
While he has not qualified for the state meet, he seems on course in this his final season in several events, namely the 100 butterfly and backstroke events and two relays.
“This season has been a great one for Nick so far,” said Stoloski. “He is an essential member of the team and not just as a captain and an attitude driver, but in the pool. He is our top butterflier and a key member of two relays we hope to see go to states. While he isn't the high point leader or the fastest kid on the team this year, we have won meets on the backs of him and the other team leaders. But despite this Nick is very humble, hardworking, and essential to what Pennsbury swimming is all about.”
A top-notch student who is also involved in community service, time management was another challenge he had to overcome.
“That was definitely something I had to do as time went on,” he explained. “Once I started swimming in high school, my schedule changed drastically. I found myself becoming sleep-deprived. Everything had to be managed.”
Part of that was sacrificing pool time on Mondays to be involved in Food for Friends at his Quaker Meeting House.
“When it comes to community service, it’s about choosing to do something for the common good,” said Lucca, who also volunteers his time at Woods Services, working with people with various challenges and disabilities. “I’m a birthright Quaker. I was raised in the religion, and the values have greatly influenced me. It’s all about viewing everybody as equal.
“Every week, we prepare a meal. Each Monday, anyone who shows up can have a meal. We have different roles, from setting up and cleaning up to sitting down with them and making them feel comfortable.
“It’s something I enjoy. I enjoy helping others.”
That extends to his teammates, as he is quick to point out that swimming is more of a team sport than people tend to realize.
“It’s a sport where, say, I can place first in a race and we can still not win the race,” explained Lucca, who said he was “surprised” to be named captain, but calls it a “really fun job” that involves “keeping morale of the team high.”
Stoloski is not at all shocked to witness Lucca, who was recently accepted to IUP and is waiting on word from West Chester University, wear the captaincy well.
“Since I've known him, first as an age group swimmer, Nick has always wanted to be and acted like a leader,” said Stoloski. “Swimming up in age group meets, he would take command of unlimited relays but also be the one who helped encourage younger kids. As a captain now of my varsity team, he is as concerned, if not more concerned, with his team as he is about himself. He is the loudest voice of encouragement and is always aware of his teammates, (their) best times, their stroke issues, and takes time to work with and encourage them regularly.”
When Lucca was a freshman, he said the seniors on Pennsbury’s team helped him learn the vital balance of “how to work hard and still have fun.”
At the club level, former La Salle High swimmer Greg Rogers -- now at William & Mary -- was a role model.
“He is a much faster and stronger swimmer than I was,” said Lucca, who hopes to swim on the collegiate level. “For me, he was very influential. He came to be one of my best friends.”
But Lucca’s immediate family – including his older brother, Chris, a former cross-country performer at Pennsbury – heads the list of his inspirations, and he thanks them for their support over the years of driving him to and from meets and practices.
While swimming is not a contact sport, the danger of crashing into a wall or catching an errant arm or leg from another lane always looms.
“My parents worry about me, but I have always been aware of this,” said Lucca, who has gone so far as breaking his arm while avoiding going head first into the ground.
The only head-first dive he allows is into a pool of water, like that one he took at age 5.
When he kept on swimming, refusing to look back.
Perhaps, just perhaps, proving that some things are meant to be.
