Athletics
I would never say I was what most people call a 'jock'. Yes, I was an age group swimmer. I also played water polo starting in junior high and continued on through my first year of college. In high school I also participated in a few road bike races. The thing that made me feel like I wasn't that 'jock' was the fact that I had to work really hard and be very dedicated to be a mediocre competitor. In fact competition wasn't my main motivator, it was having a good time. I cherish the friends I met doing these sports.
Along the way I learned to love the sports. They were my sports.
Swimming
As is the case for a lot of the adult swimmers I've met, my fascination with swimming and the pool came from swimming growing up. I swam from 9 years old through high school. In the mid-90s, I joined a Masters swim team in Loma Linda, California. I swam with that team for about 2-3 years. It was during that time I completed my first (and as of now my only) open water swim, the 1996 La Jolla Rough Water Swim.
I returned to Masters swimming in 2011, when the city aquatics center was forming a Masters swim group. After about a year or so, we formally formed a United States Masters Swimming team, the Fontana Flyers. In the years that followed, I participated in approximately 12-15 USMS swim meets in southern California from 2011-2015.
With my new home in Wisconsin, I've struggled to find the time to get into the pool. I hope that as time goes by, I will be able to spend more time in the pool and get to where I was when I was swimming with the Flyers.
Bicycling
Growing up in suburban southern California, I learned to love bicycles and bike riding. My brother and I rode our BMX bikes to and from school, explored our neighborhood, and just hung out on two wheels. It was our freedom to go where and when we wanted (within our parents' guidelines of course).
For Christmas in the mid-1980s, I got my first road bike. It was a Peugeot PH10LE that my parents bought from a local bike shop. I rode that bike everywhere, and even made a few upgrades, like a pair of the original white LOOK Sport clipless pedals. That bike led to an upgrade two years later to a 1987 Trek 560 and another upgrade in 1989 when I built my dream bike: a Klein Quantum with the new 7 speed Shimano Ultegra gruppo. As a matter of fact, I still own those three bicycles (plus a few more..)
With my move to Wyoming, I discovered a facet of the bicycle community that I hadn't explored yet: bicycle restoration. My focus group of bicycles are the road bikes (mainly) from the time period that I was racing in high school. A recent project has been a triathlon bike, a 1998 Cannondale Multisport 1000.
Water Polo
As an age group swimmer, I used to watch those high school kids who played water polo for our city's high school. It looked like such a fun sport, especially for someone who was already a strong swimmer. I got the opportunity to play with the high school when I was in 9th grade (and student at junior high). I gained a lot of experience that year and it cemented my love for the sport.
When I started high school as a 10th grader, I had earned a spot as a member of the varsity team. I wasn't a starter, nor first off the bench, but I did get some playing time. That playing time earned me my first varsity letter, in my first semester of high school. I would then go on to earn my varsity letter in water polo for all three years of high school. After high school graduation, I went on to play water polo for one season at Chaffey College in Alta Loma, California.
Coaching
Fast forward many years after having left high school water polo and swimming, I got the opportunity to spend two years as an assistant coach for the Yucaipa High School girls water polo team and for both boys & girls swim teams. It was quite the rewarding experience and it taught me many aspects of these two sports that I love.
