Swimming: individual or team sport?

I've noticed something weird at the 50 or so swim meets I've been to...team cheering increases exponentially the closer the team canopy is to the pool.  I could probably graph it with the highest cheering ratio being at meets like this past weekend, where Montclair's canopy was sitting at the 50 yard line over by lane 8.  If kids just have to stand up to cheer, they will gladly put down their cup o' noodles and do it every single race.

But there is one meet where the canopy could be in Timbuktu and they'd still cheer like crazy.  The relays.  Montclair used to host the relay meet but switched to the Pentathlon two years ago.  Now, our only obligation at the meet is to swim fast and cheer.  There might not be a louder meet.  Swimmers line the side of the pool, hang out at the turning end, and the three non-swimming relayers get in the timers way over on the blocks.  It makes you realize that in the hundreds of individual swims these kids do, they still become a team.

The Montclair Swim Team might have the grossest relay tradition of all time.  The four swimmers traditionally each bite a corner of the relay card before turning it in to the timers.  This started at least as early as the late
80s based on the Facebook alumni group.  And it continues to this day.  If chewing on the corner of a relay card doesn't build camaraderie and teamsmanship, I don't know what will.