Vivian Healey
Stuyvesant ’06
Notre Dame ’10
Holding even single school record as a high school athlete is an admirable feat. Vivian Healey (’06), three-time MVP and former Penguins captain, holds seven of the eight individual records for the Penguins, the girls’ varsity swim team.
“She was just a phenomenal swimmer in terms of speed and talent,” said Silvanna Choy, former head coach of the Penguins.
Her former Penguins teammates agree.
“She was our big weapon when it came to really competitive meets,” said senior Marta Bralic. “It would be like, ‘We’re losing, but Vivian’s swimming next, so don’t worry.’”
Choy coached Healey all four years Healey was on the team. “I don’t know if we’ll see another Vivian Healey for a long time. She’s the best swimmer Stuyvesant ever saw,” Choy said.
Recruited out of high school, Healey continued swimming breaststroke, helping the varsity team at Notre Dame, a Division I school, win its 11th straight Big East title, a conference record in any sport.
“Swimming was one of the big reasons I came here,” Healey said. “That was one of the first things I thought about when I looked at a school. I would never go to school and not swim.”
Healey also loves the college community. “The people here were nicer than anywhere else I visited,” she said. “It just makes for an environment where you can be your best at whatever it is you’re trying to do.”
Most Notre Dame teams are annual playoff contenders. “There’s a certain degree of pride associated with being a varsity athlete here,” Healey said. “Knowing that you’re part of something so much bigger than yourself, it’s just a wonderful feeling.”
Being a member of such an elite crowd comes with its share of hard work. While on the Penguins, Healey practiced every day either before or after school. Now, she practices daily before and after classes, and on weekends.
“It’s obviously a lot more intense and a much, much, higher level,” Healey said of college practices compared to high school swimming. “It’s understood that it’s going to be hard to excel in the pool and in the classroom, but you need to work it out. You have to make swimming a priority.”
Choy is not surprised that Healey has been able to manage the workload.
“Her technique is fantastic. It’s perfect,” she said. “When you talk to her about it, she always had something to improve. She never thought she was 100 percent perfect and she was always working hard to better herself.”
This hard work has paid off. Healey placed eighth in the 100-meter breaststroke in the 2006 Big East Conference, shaving nearly three seconds off her time from her senior year at Stuyvesant. The 200-meter breaststroke is not a high school swimming event but it has become Healey’s best. She placed seventh in the event. Healey also won the most improved award for her team.
Healey attributes her success to “the fabulous coaching [and] the fabulous facilities” at Notre Dame. There are four coaches and each works with individual swimmers of a specific event.
“I loved Ms. Choy and I thought she was a great coach, but it’s difficult when you don’t have access to the same facilities,” Healey said.
Healey has found many other advantages in being part of the Notre Dame swimming team. Last year, during winter break, the Fighting Irish took a training trip to Hawaii. Living on campus also allows for teammates to spend far more time together than in high school.
Even at college, Healey cannot forget about her high school career.
“Being on the Penguins was my favorite part of Stuyvesant by far,” she said. “The girls were great. It was so much fun to be on the team. To have the rivalry with Bronx Science, to wear funny things to class to advertise our meets. There’s always going to be a special place in my heart for the Stuyvesant swim team, because it was such a big part of my life for four years.”
Just as she has not forgotten Stuyvesant, it has not forgotten her.“She always encouraged me to go to practice, and do [morning practices],” said junior and Penguins co-captain Abigayle Erickson. “I knew if I went to mornings she’d be a person I’d see there.”
Healey helped and motivated her former teammates. “She would work with me for days to fix my stroke and my technique,” Bralic said.
“She just sets a really great example because she works hard, studies hard, and is a great leader,” said senior and co-captain Brittany Bishop.
“We miss her,” Choy said.