Part of the role of the world’s best swimmers, whether they know it or not, is always to inspire the next generation of age-groupers coming up behind them. Now, more than ever, elite athletes are being called on to keep those younger swimmers engaged. Even in places where elite swimmers are still finding ways to train, age groupers have been mostly confined to makeshift pools at best, or dryland at worst.
In that vein, the Metropolitan Swimming LSC has set up a live Question & Answer session with two of those elite swimmers: current U.S. National Teamer Emily Escobedo and former American Record holder in the 100 back Ally Howe.
During the session, swimmers will be able to ask them questions about anything, from swimming to training to going to college and dryland during the quarantine.
- Date & Time: Friday, April 17th, from 3-4PM Eastern Time
- Live Youtube Link: Click Here (You can set a reminder via that link as well)
- Submit a Question: Click Here
While the program is being put on by the Metropolitan LSC, which serves the greater New York City area, all participation is welcome.
Escobedo and Howe will answer pre-submitted questions in addition to pulling questions out of the live video chat.
“I’m hoping that it will encourage athletes to find ways to improve on the little things that will benefit their swimming when we get back in the water,” Escobedo said of the program. “I also hope that it can improve the mindset and mental health of these young athletes.”
Escobedo is a native of New Rochelle, New York, which is one of the hardest-hit places on earth by the coronavirus pandemic. Westchester County, where New Rochelle is located, has 20,191 confirmed coronavirus cases and 596 coronavirus-caused deaths as of April 14th. With a population of under 1 million in the county, that’s on par with the entire nation of Portugal, with a population of over 10 million.
Howe, a California native who now lives in New York, is the former American Record holder in the 100 yard backstroke. She returned to racing in early 2020 after almost a year away and works as a financial analyst for the New York Yankees.
I was going to say, I thought that Howe had retired after college. @SwimSwam, do you know in what context she’s returned to training and racing (Masters, etc.)? Either way, fun to have this informal video/Q&A especially with two swimmers with pretty different college experiences!
Howe is registered as swimming for NY Athletic Club (NYAC-MR), which has a history of sponsoring high-level post-graduate swimmers who may now be in the NY area for other professional reasons but are also looking to train and swim (like recent college graduates looking to train for Nationals or Trials, but no longer are local to or with their home clubs). Senior Mets (Metro Swimming’s Senior championship meet), I believe is one of the local meets sponsored swimmers are required to compete at to maintain their NYAC membership subsidy.