David Krueger sits down with the Marauders boys swimmer and finds out how to swim the butterfly, what’s the best way to recruit swimmers and if he looks good in a Speedo:
Q: So what’s new and exciting in life?
A: Nothing much. It’s the same old, same old: swimming every day. That’s what I do. It doesn’t change.
Q: How’d you get into swimming?
A: This is my seventh year swimming competitively. I’ve been swimming since I was 3 and it just kind of happened.
Q: The Mariner team (11-4 overall) is having a good season this year, can you talk a little about that?
A: We are 11-4 for the season, which is the first double-digit win season since 1993. That’s a pretty big thing for us. We’re all very excited about it. Last year we were 7-6 which was our first winning season in over 20 years for the school. It’s kind of cool being the only (winter) varsity sport at Mariner that has a winning season.
Q: Are you like the team historian? You seem to know a lot about the history of the Mariner swim team.
A: I’m very passionate about the sport. And I have been. I just like to keep up with what we’re proud about.
Q: I recently learned how to swim last Tuesday and I can’t help but wonder, how do you go so fast?
A: I think for me it’s experience. I’ve been dealing with shoulder issues for a while, so there hasn’t been much practice time. But experience has played a huge part for me.
Q: Can you do the butterfly stroke? That one’s my least favorite.
A: Yeah. That is my stroke that I do.
Q: How?
A: How? Um … I have no idea. It just happens.
Q: It doesn’t for me. Do you swim long distance or short distance?
A: Well I used to be a 200-butterflyer, but then shoulder issues made me become a 100-flyer. Now, that’s my race.
Q: How do you think swimming could become more popular in high schools?
A: Well I think for Mariner promoting that we’re the only winning (winter) varsity sport here. The club teams just recently promoted a new slogan that “swimming’s the only sport that saves lives.” That could be a huge part, especially for Western Washington since there’s so much water.
Q: How many hours a week do you spend in the pool?
A: Right now, winding down the season, I probably spend 2½ hours per day, six days a week.
Q: How do you hope your swimming season ends?
A: I hope our team places top six in districts and I hope I make it to state in the butterfly.
Q: If a person was afraid of water, what’s the best way to overcome that fear?
A: We actually had a kid on our team this year who had a near-drowning experience early on in his life. It was his first year swimming competitively and one of the things that helped him the most is trusting his friends and his coaches around him and just going in head first.
Q: So just dive in?
A: Uh huh. And trust plays a big part in that.
Q: What’s it like wearing a Speedo? Is that hard to get used to?
A: I don’t wear the actual underwear speedo. I wear a “jammer” which goes down to my knee. I’ve been wearing that for seven years. So I’ve gotten used to that. I still think it’s kind of funny when I see seniors or these big, bulky high school guys walking around in the little tighty whitey Speedos.
Q: You don’t want to make that switch?
A: No. I’m perfectly fine with my jammers.
Q: Is it acceptable for a 22-year old man to wear those floaties on his arms?
A: (Long pause.) Um. Well, surprisingly the majority of people in the United States don’t know how to swim.
Q: What would you say to someone to encourage them to give the swimming team a shot?
A: For recruiting, one of the things that we promote is it builds so much muscle. It works every single muscle in your body. If you don’t have time to work out and do school work and stuff, come swim for an hour a day and you’ll get all of that. Then you still have time to go home and do school work and other things you need to do.
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