Updated: Held says that he and the other post grads stopped training at the Yacht Club on Friday when the Olympics were postponed until 2021.
While awaiting word from the IOC about the future of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, many swimmers were forced to look for creative training options, especially after most universities shut down their facilities. For some, like Cody Miller, that meant driving hours to train. For others, like Kierra Smith, that meant training in hotel pools.
For American Olympic relay gold medalist from Rio, Ryan Held that meant taking to a small, two-lane pool at Tuscaloosa Yacht Club with 3 other postgraduate swimmers. The group, was training 2 at a time and without a coach on deck in an attempt to maintain safe social distances while still training. Held says the group stopped training there last Friday when they learned there would be no meets to train for in the near future.
“It’s private so there are no lifeguards, swim at your own risk, but they’ve agreed to lend a helping hand,” Held told The Journal-News in a report published on Monday. “It’s not much, but water is water.
“It’s not like you lose your fitness without being in the water for a few weeks, but you’ll lose the feeling and the tactile awareness of where you are in the water,” he said. “You lose the mental side of it and that’s what people were kind of freaking out about and nervous about.”
In terms of the Olympic Games officially being moved to July, Held said, “It’s kind of a blessing and a curse. It does put life on hold for one more year, but I get to do my passion, my love, for one more year.”
“I’m staying safe and out of the water for now,” Held told SwimSwam on Tuesday of his current training status.
It’s a weird indoor-outdoor pool, too. https://www.northriveryc.com/aquatics/golf-club-pool
OT’s are same dates next year. Location TBD though….
Ryan’s a good guy and best wishes to him on his swimming endeavors.
The part that got me is that Tuscaloosa has a yacht club??
Where do you think Saban docks his yacht?
Tuscaloosa has a very wide range of people living in it. There’s a part of the county that is incredibly wealthy, hence the yacht club and very expensive houses on Lake Tuscaloosa
Let me help you out with this. Olympians are Olympians because they fundamentally don’t do what you do. You assume that an Olympian plying their trade AND being as safe as anyone else are mutually exclusive. They are not. If you feel the urge to tell an Olympian what they should do, just remember, your opinion does not matter.
Thank you , for the corrected update,
That Ryan is no longer in the water, practiced social distancing and staying safe.
I’m not sure how he is training there when this facility is closed and Ryan is in IL? Maybe he was there for a day or two last week?
Pics? Remember the swim benches from the 70s-80s? Are those still out there?
are you talking about things like the vasa trainer? https://vasatrainer.com/product/vasa-swim-trainer-bench/
What meets are you getting ready for? Protect yourself now so you don’t pay for it later…..seems silly to be training just to train
Read the article….
“What meets are you getting ready for?”…answering that question would sound almost as asinine as asking it in the first place.
Well answer it. What meets are coming up in 2020?
Atrophy happens