South African swimmer, and short course 50 free World Record holder, Roland Schoeman of South Africa will be back training in the United States in the same state where he once tore up the NCAA to the tune of double-digit All-American awards (at the University of Arizona), but this time will be a bit futher north on I-17 with the Phoenix Swim Club. After his previous run in Arizona, where he had much of his international success, Roland had spent a short amount of time training back in South Africa, officially representing the Northern Tigers Swimming club.
The connection is that the new head coach of the Phoenix Swim Club, named in July, is Coley Stickels, who is another Arizona alum. Schoeman publicly expressed his disappointment in his training after this spring’s South African National Championships. In his two races at the 2011 World Championships (the 50 free and 50 fly), he failed to advance past the semi-finals.