This academic year has almost come to a close, and I have had the opportunity to see Harvard athletics and student-athletes from several angles.

I would like to take this chance to reflect back on one team, its season, and what it meant to write about it with honesty.

Seeing the Harvard women's swimming and diving team compete and reporting on its successes for The Crimson has been an opportunity and a privilege.

The reason I comped The Crimson was so that I could cover the women's swimming and diving team. I hoped that I could put my knowledge of the sport to good use and hopefully bring recognition to a great group of athletes.

Picking up a beat and covering a team can be a challenge, but it can be rewarding too. It is fun to get to know a team, its coaches and the dynamics of the group that contribute to its performance.

At the same time, it is a great challenge when you play the same sport as the team you are covering, when you practice at the same facility and have many friendships and acquaintances that overlap with your "beat".

At a Crimson Sports meeting, it's hard to pitch a swimmer as athlete of the week: you look biased and self concerned. It is hard not to over emphasize the small successes by individuals that to an outsider might appear insignificant or meaningless. I saw what it took to get there for these athletes, and I realize how important those achievements were.

I admire and respect women's swimming and its coaches, and it is hard to see the team perform below expectations. It was hard to report when the women lost a meet, and it was even more difficult to analyze a poor performance or an upsetting (and surprising) loss.