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SwimSwam took a trip up to the Great White North to visit Olympic champion, Lydia Jacoby, in her hometown of Seward, Alaska. If you haven’t seen our Day in the Life video with Lydia, check it out here.
This certainly wasn’t your run-of-the-mill Practice + Pancakes, but then again Alaska isn’t your run-of-the-mill swimming destination. A more accurate description of the day could be Practice + Tacos + Playing with Sea Lions. We started our day (after Lydia had already had morning practice and weights) at the Alaska SeaLife Center, where one of the Seward Tsunami coaches works as an animal trainer. There we got to see (and in the sea lions’ case interact with) a handful of the wildlife that they help care for and in some cases rehabilitate.
Lunch was at the Lone Chicharron Taqueria – would recommend. Then after an afternoon coffee (not shown), it was time for PM practice with the Seward Tsunami Swim Team, where coach Solomon D’Amico gave them 10×100 focusing on maximizing streamline and power off the wall, followed by some skill and relay work.
AH I USED TO VOLUNTEER AT THE NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM IN THE MARINE MAMMAL DEPARTMENT AHH. I did not expect to get punched by nostalgia in this video, but I love it.
Those sea lions big.
She is such a pure breaststroker currently, got to think she will drop nearly all of her times at Texas.
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/1157953/
I’m interested to see how she does at Texas, she could see lots of growth from a more resources with many to push her or maybe this is the kind of training that she thrives under.
amazing to see someone like Lydia come out of a program like this. There are too many people in the swim community that feel you need to be part of the biggest and fastest team to succeed. I believe this shows that so much of what we do as coaches is simply instilling belief into athletes to help them reach their full potential. These coaches have definitely done that.
I’m a big believer in swimming wherever makes you feel most confident. I went from a team with 30+ kids in the top group to a team w/ only 12 of us in the top group… and I THRIVED at this new team. It doesn’t always matter about the team name, just what works best for you!