Olympic medalists give Naperville swimmers lessons in sport, life
Riley Schroedter now can say she beat an Olympic swimmer in a race.
How cool is that?
The 12-year-old Naperville girl was one of about 95 youngsters at Naperville Central High School on Sunday for the Breakout Swim Clinic hosted by the Mavericks Swim Club.
Olympic gold medalists Josh Davis and Aaron Peirsol were the guest instructors. They also raced the kids in the freestyle and backstroke. With a head start, Riley edged Davis in the 25-yard freestyle.
"It's really cool. It's not every day that you get to swim against Josh Davis or Aaron Peirsol," Riley said.
"I was breathing so hard, and trying not to breathe every stroke. I thought he out-touched me, but then I saw that I had won."
Davis won three gold medals at the 1996 Olympics and two silvers in 2000.
Retired and now married with five children, he told Sunday's audience of his inauspicious beginnings.
Davis started swimming when he was 13. On the first day of practice he said he was so bad his coach said "you should try another sport."
By his senior year of high school, Davis was the top freestyler in the country.
"You have to be careful of those negative attitudes," he told the swimmers. "They can prevent you from reaching your potential. Good things happen when you work hard."
Davis was the U.S. record-holder in the 200-meter freestyle for five years until Michael Phelps came along.
He gave a few tips to a good freestyle stroke: keeping elbows high, driving with the hips and gliding on the side.
Davis and Peirsol also hammered home the importance of a good swimming streamline.
"Streamline is the most efficient way to go through the water," Davis said. "If you don't have that position each time you enter the pool, you won't reach your maximum speed."
Peirsol and Davis also gave instruction on the backstroke. Peirsol won gold in the 100 and 200 backstroke in the 2004 Olympics, and is the world record-holder in the 100. He is training for next summer's Olympic Trials.
"You watch an Olympic swimmer on TV," he said, "and they seem so far removed. But we were once 10 years old, too. We went through the same things these kids are going through. You have to start somewhere."
"They're so nice and personal," said 12-year-old Sarah Borton of Naperville. "They try to learn our names and talk to us about everything."
Kids were given tips and a few useful drills to improve on the backstroke. One stuck out to Sarah.
"You really have to get a good butterfly kick," she said.
Davis knows that not every kid in attendance Sunday will be an Olympic swimmer. But he said swimming is a sport that can develop a lot of life skills: like discipline, time management and loyalty.
"Greatness lies within each of you," he said. "It's up to you to bring it out."