Excerpt from Buoyant, The Book By Aaron Peirsol’s Mother

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Buoyant: How Water and Willpower Helped Wella to Channel Aaron and Hayley Peirsol has been released as an ebook.

Wella Hartig—mother of seven-time Olympic medalist Aaron Peirsol and his world-ranked sister Hayley—has collaborated with Austin writer Laura Cottam Sajbel to share her story of raising these two remarkable athletes.

BUOYANT EXCERPT

As they cast about for how to properly channel the speed and gumption they saw in the kids, Wella and Tim couldn’t yet fathom what they were facing—either in the labyrinth of competitive swimming or in the enormous potential brimming in Aaron and Hayley. One anecdote illustrates how much they still had to learn. When Aaron’s arm had healed, Wella and Tim decided to enter the kids at a youth swim meet held at nearby Golden West College, just for fun, independent of any team. The Pumpkin Meet, scheduled in October, actually awarded pumpkins to the winners of each race.

“We didn’t understand the world of swimming at all. We had no idea how it worked,” begins Wella.

Tim chimes in, “We just walked up and said we’d like to sign the kids up to swim in the meet.” The registrars sitting at the table were incredulous that these parents hadn’t followed proper channels, and Tim and Wella had to jump through a few hoops to get the kids registered. “No one would guide us!” Wella exclaims, though eventually the judges let the kids swim.

On the pool deck, Tim and Wella spotted Brian Pajer, the coach whom they had met at Nova during their visit the past spring. Completely unaware of their faux pas, they asked Brian if he would warm up Aaron and Hayley for the races. Kindly, Brian did so, despite the fact that the kids were not part of his team. Tim and Wella were grateful, but even more so later, when they realized that Brian had really gone out of his way to help them when he was the paid coach of the other swimmers.

Pajer[i] confirms that he noticed a name he didn’t remember from previous meets, a boy entered with strong times for his age.

“I was interested to see how Aaron would race against our boys. I remember the hundred-meter individual medley race in particular,” Pajer recalls. “Aaron and our two best nine-and-ten boys swam in three lanes next to each other, and Aaron did very well, splitting our guys and taking second place. I believe Aaron got to know our boys on the first day of the meet, and Tim and Wella asked me if they could warm up with our swimmers on the second day of the competition.”

Needless to say, “Aaron and Hayley came home with a bunch of pumpkins,” Tim recalls, smiling.

Aaron outside their kitchen window, holding his winnings from the Pumpkin Meet at Golden West College. Photo courtesy of Wella Hartig.

Generally, it becomes evident over time which kids in a community are speedy in the pool, but Aaron and Hayley had been participating in smaller meets and had not yet shown off their talents for the swim community at large. Tim says that local Los Angeles Times reporter and fellow swim parent Erik Hamilton[ii] later told him that other parents were grumbling that Aaron and Hayley, who were whipping the competition, had appeared out of nowhere. He confided that the buzz among other parents was, “Are they aliens?”

However, that meet illustrated for Aaron that there were faster times to be had and some good competitors out there, and it spurred him to think about his goals. And Wella clearly recognized the difference that good coaching and competition could make for the kids.

The family decided it was time to make the move to a competitive organization with a strong reputation, so they registered the kids at Nova the autumn of 1993, when Erin was thirteen, Aaron and Greg were ten, and Hayley was eight. Coach Pajer recalls Tim and Wella as being quite likeable from their first meeting, an impression that never changed over the years.

His words help illustrate the family dynamic and its role in the kids’ success: “After getting to know the family better, I thought they were a great combination of personalities. Tim and Wella were very fitness-minded themselves and understood the commitment necessary to excel in sports. Wella was always the worrier and needed to be reassured now and then about Aaron’s and Hayley’s progress, and she was always a little nervous when they competed in big meets.”

And he points out what was becoming evident in the parenting team. “Tim was the perfect fit for Wella’s personality, as his steady demeanor and endless patience was a very steadying force for her and the kids,” Pajer says. “Tim understood Aaron well, and knew when he needed a little extra push (which was not very often), and when to step back and allow Aaron to discover his own path.

“Tim was also very good at knowing how to handle a certain very young and intense coach—me,” Pajer continues, with self-deprecating humor. “He knew when to step in and communicate things that would help me understand Hayley and Aaron better, while also keeping enough distance to let both kids take ownership of their swimming. Aaron and Hayley are very lucky to have Tim and Wella as parents, and I truly believe much of their success in swimming was a result of this great family unit. [iii]