Like any champion, Amy Carvalho wants to defend her title.
But that’s not what she wants to do the most this winter.
Carvalho is a senior on the Archbishop Ryan High School swimming team, and in each of the last two seasons, Carvalho played a role in helping the Ragdolls win the Catholic League swimming championship. She also helped them with the District 12 championship in all three years she’s been swimming at the school.
It’s important to her that she has a chance to defend it, but she’s more excited about just swimming.
“Of course I’d love to win the championship, but the biggest thing is getting another chance to swim with my teammates,” said Carvalho, who lives in Bustleton. “The most important thing is being with them. We want to just have a season and get back into the water.
“The team is so close. It was right from the start. When you join the team, the older girls are already very close and the new girls become part of the family right away. It’s not just a team, they’re my sisters. It’s really important to me that I’m able to swim with them again.”
But that doesn’t mean she’s not interested in defending the championship.
The Catholic League has been very close recently with the Ragdolls reigning supreme at the end. And while the important thing is being around her team, it sure is nice to be the best when the season comes to an end.
“Every time we won, it was amazing,” Carvalho said. “Just hearing your name called. When they called Archbishop Ryan, it’s just an unforgettable experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It’s the best feeling when you win.”
Carvalho was definitely one of the reasons the Ragdolls were so successful.
She’s all about the team, and is willing to do whatever it takes to help Ryan, even if it means doing many different races.
Carvalho swims the 100-meter backstroke, the 100 freestyle and the 200 individual medley, which is four different strokes in one race. It’s a challenge, but it’s one she’s happy to do for the good of the team.
“When I was younger, I would swim and my coaches would always tell us that we should put in work on the strokes you don’t do very well, so I would always swim a whole bunch of different strokes,” Carvalho said. “So when I got to Ryan, I was pretty good at everything. Not good, but I was able to do it. The butterfly was the hardest one for me, I would never be in the 100 butterfly, but part of the (individual medley), I’m good enough.”
For now, Carvalho is idle.
Just as it did in the spring and fall, coronavirus has put a halt to sports. For now, the plan is to start up again in January, but as always, the situation is fluid.
Carvalho is hoping for the best so she can finish her season, and have another season swimming with her sister Alyssa, a sophomore, who does the 100 back and 200 freestyle.
“We can’t swim until January, but I’ve been working out in my basement, I have an elliptical and me and my sister will work out on that until we can get back to practice,” Carvalho said. “It’s really fun to work out with my sister because she pushes me and I push her. I feel like it’s more competitive because I look over at her and if she’s ahead of me, I want to touch the wall ahead of her.
“It’s good because she’s really good and I love to see her do well. She beat my 100 backstroke time, so that’s exciting. We cheer for everyone on the team, you want to see everyone do well, but it is really special when it’s your sister. I love pushing her and she loves pushing me. We work really well together.”
Carvalho also does a fine job on her own.
She’s an ambassador for the school, she’s a member of Athletes Helping Athletes, she was on mathletes and she’s also part of the chorus, something she’s done since grade school.
“I’m very involved with my grade school (Maternity BVM), I’ve gone back to help the grade school swim team, usually just help the younger kids who are learning their form,” Carvalho said. “And every year I do vacation Bible school, I’m usually in charge of the 4- and 5-year-olds.”
She’s just as successful in the classroom.
Carvalho takes honors and advanced placement classes, and is ranked in the top 25 percent of her senior class. She hasn’t selected a college, but she did get some good news, she was awarded $92,000 in scholarships and grants to attend DeSales University. She loves the school, but is still waiting to hear back from others, including St. Joe’s and Drexel.
“I’m leaning toward studying psychology and public health, those are two things I’m very interested in, maybe major in one and minor in one,” said Carvalho, who doesn’t plan on swimming, but would like to join a club swim team in college. “I love the study of the brain, and I think both are great majors because of that. I want to help people, that’s my overall goal. I can help people, mentally, by learning about the brain and how it functions. And public health, I want to help people with knowing what’s good for you and not good for you. You can do that by helping people, mentally and physically.”
