In Coleman’s Carpool we get the insider’s perspective on your favorite swimmers. SwimSwam Head of Production, Coleman Hodges, invites swimmers to take a ride with him and talk about anything…except swimming. Mostly.
If you don’t know who James Fike is, you probably should. His life revolves around swimming, in almost every way you can imagine. Let’s start from the beginning: he swam under Eddie Reese at the University of Texas, in the golden era with teammates such as Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker, Nate Dusing, Neil Walker, Tommy Hannan… you get the picture. Although he never made NCAA’s during his time at Texas, he will tell you that he gained several life lessons during his time as a longhorn. He will also tell you that he was the king of 6-square (click here if you aren’t familiar with the age-old longhorn tradition) and could out-eat anyone on the team.
James Started his own swim brand, Fike Swim, and with the mantra of “Swim Different”, the company innovated the first weighted kick board. It’s a small company, but one that is growing quickly and gives back to the sport as much as possible, in part through it’s “ambassador program”. Think “suit sponsorship”, but instead of signing a contract and getting a ton of money, Fike describes his ambassador program as good faith agreements that all involved will do whatever they can to further each other’s progress. One of his ambassadors, rising distance star Zane Grothe, recently broke the 500 and 1,650 American records wearing Fike Swim‘s cap.
James isn’t just a swim fan, swim geek, and swim entrepreneur. And he isn’t, as most people his age are, a swammer. James still embraces and takes on the daily grind of training for competition, putting in around 15 hours a week in and out of the pool. Most recently, Fike swam a 49 in the 100 yard fly this month. At age 36. For reference, the 35-39 Masters American record on the 100 fly is 49.02. Not. too. shabby.
Was there when he swam that 49.83. My grandson was 2nd in that event (49.95) & was closing on him but ran out of pool!!. Fike swam well. Is in great shape for his age but would swim faster if he shaved that beard ?
Lol, you’re probably right and I might even shave a few years off too ? Jace swam a good race, pushed me hard. Neil said he hurt his hand on the third turn, hope it’s better. Good luck to him!
Yeah, he jammed his middle finger going into wall at the 75 yard turn but it seems to have healed up now. He was sick this past weekend (not the flu thank goodness) so hoping he recovers well enough to do well in regional high school meet this weekend. Look forward to seeing you at upcoming meets. Wishing you the best as well (unless you are swimming against Jace ?).
Do you have video of the race? If you do, could you please email it to me [email protected].
I’ve swam in the same heat as James. Can’t say I was anywhere near closing in on him!
why is there an apostrophe in “sign’s”?