MA’s Sister Reveals Move to California Was a Birthday Present to Her

Michael Andrew posted a Q&A video on his YouTube channel last week, where Andrew and his sister addressed questions regarding their family’s move to California, his choice to go pro at such a young age, and where he would have gone to college. Before he got into the questions, Andrew did also tease a new ‘virtual coaching’ feature to be coming in the future, where swimmers can send in videos of them training, and Andrew and his father will give feedback on the videos.

MA’s sister Michaela joined the video to answer the question “why did you move to California?”, revealing that it was actually something of a birthday present to her. Michaela explains that she felt the family’s focus was always on Michael’s swimming career. For her last birthday, she took a trip down the coast of California, and at the end of it her mom revealed that if Michaela wanted to move to California, the family would move. She and Michael then went on to explain that Michaela has dreams of traveling the world surfing, and opening a coffee shop later in her life.

MA also answered the question “where would you have gone to college?”, and before he answered, he stated “I’m not going to college, nobody worry”. Andrew then went on to reveal that “it’s a difficult question”, but “I think I’d probably hook’em horns”, indicating that Texas would have been his top choice.

He also gave a pretty candid response when asked about what it was like to go pro so young. Andrew talked about it being “awful” for a long time, because it caused him to put in a very stressful position where he felt he had to prove his worth. He says after he went pro he was consumed by a fear of failure, and that fear had in turn set him up for failure. But then, he went on to talk about how he learned to accept that his swimming doesn’t define him, and that he now feels “super blessed” to have learned that at such a young age.