Grigorishin: Swimmers Have To “Change Their Mentality” To Become True Pros

International Swimming League (ISL) founder and president Konstantin Grigorishin believes swimmers are on the right path to becoming true professional athletes, but they’re not there yet.

During the ISL’s official launch of its second season, several details about the upcoming campaign were revealed, including a Q&A session towards the end where Grigorishin was asked which areas he’s hoping to improve on compared to last year.

While touching on some of the league’s goals in terms of growth, the main point the 54-year-old focused on was transitioning the mindset of swimmers in becoming true professional athletes.

“Of course we have business goals, how to extend our audience, how to engage people to ourselves, and we have some parameters for that,” said the Ukrainian native. “But at the same time the major goal of this season is how to change the mentality of swimmers.

“On one side, yes, they are very professional, and they’re humble, nice people. They’re super talented, and they are very committed to what they are doing. They are spending hours and hours every day doing their workout, and it’s a hard workout.

“At the same time, they’re still amateurs. They are not professional athletes in terms of approach.”

Grigorishin then touched on how, last season, some athletes would miss matches due to obligations that normally wouldn’t supersede a pro athlete’s competition.

“Sometimes we have some strange questions from the others,” he said. “‘Oh, I cannot come to this match because I have a birthday of my girlfriend, or I have holidays. I would like to spend this time with my family or with my dog’.

“And I think this is our main goal. How to change their mentality and make them real professional athletes because they deserve a much better life, much better income. But they have to change their mentality a little bit, and I think they’re on the right track now. And I think this is our major goal for this season.”

You can watch the full launch of Season 2 below. Grigorishin receives the question at 1:18:20.

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Swimreason
3 years ago

Cody Miller:
“Hold my crib-building hammer…”

Coach Mike 1952
3 years ago

My question is why go public rather than speaking with the teams / athletes privately?

Last edited 3 years ago by Coach Mike 1952
Olympian
3 years ago

Wow, great way of trying to bond with the swimmers LOL

There you have a reason why the ISL might sink

go faster
3 years ago

Pay them more (1k, 5k, 10k attendance bonus) at some point a friends birthday party doesn’t make sense

Jason Zajonc
Reply to  go faster
3 years ago

How much do they make?

go faster
Reply to  Jason Zajonc
3 years ago

Average 15k for the season

Dude
3 years ago

How would he know?

DCSwim
Reply to  Dude
3 years ago

“ Grigorishin then touched on how, last season, some athletes would miss matches due to obligations that normally wouldn’t supersede a pro athlete’s competition.
“Sometimes we have some strange questions from the others,” he said. “‘Oh, I cannot come to this match because I have a birthday of my girlfriend, or I have holidays. I would like to spend this time with my family or with my dog’.”

Dude
Reply to  DCSwim
3 years ago

I read the article. But he is not a professional swimmer.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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