Squad Energy (NCAA Men's Edition)

Hello everyone.
Welcome back to another week and another episode of Unfiltered Waters.
And it is now the men's turn.
And if you watch the meet, you know that they deserve their fair share of flowers.
Holy cow, these men were on fire.
And Elizabeth Weisel and I were able to talk to some of them leading into the meet.
So we are giving you squad energy on the men's side.
We welcome Josh Leando, Ilya Haroon, Thomas Hallman, and Josh Aikens to round out the squad energy.
We talk all about traditions, who does the most trash talking, what they're excited about, what would make them proud from this meet.
And similar to the women, it is very evident that their future predictions lined up very nicely.
And again, if you're an athlete or parent watching, listening to this, being able to hear the human side of these athletes, talking about nerves, talking about imposter syndrome.
All of it just humanizes these incredible athletes.
So you know what I'm gonna say?
Hit that subscribe button and let's take it one step further.
Leave a comment about your favorite moment at the men's NCAA Championships.
I know mine, but I want to hear yours.
So load up that comment section with all the incredible swims and please enjoy this star-studded episode with these four incredible athletes.
Thanks for having me, guys.
Hi.
So we are recording this one day before the meet starts.
How are the vibes?
Not just me, but the team as a whole, the gators.
I feel like everyone's ready, everyone's pumped.
So we're just kind of, you know, try not to get too excited now and save it all for the meet.
But yeah, in in good spirits for sure.
What did the weeks between SECs and NCs look like?
Did you go straight to taper or did you like go back up and then down?
Uh we went back up a little bit.
And then yeah, I was just kind of right back in and then resting the fun part, the good part.
Um but yeah, just kind of fine-tuning everything, getting ready for this meet.
Um, obviously, SECs is always a good meet to look at and see what you can improve on.
Meet you kind of, at least for me, I'd kind of want to try stuff out and see see how they work, whether I want to keep it or change it for NCAAs.
So um, yeah, just kind of that process leading in, obviously just having fun, taking it in.
Obviously, it's my last one.
So yeah, just kind of enjoying it all.
What was the answer to that of what you're changing between SECs to now?
Um, I it's it's like more specific details.
It'll be like how many kicks I want to take um off a turn or things with my start, just like those small details, just like race strategy kind of things, breathing pattern, um, what worked well, what what didn't um at SECs?
Because it's good, it's still a high pressure environment, but obviously the goal is always to be better at NCAA, so just kind of those things like that, just fine-tuning.
You mentioned this being your last NCs.
How heavy is that on your mind, and like how much do you allow yourself to think about that?
Um no, I mean I I think about it quite a bit, but it it's more just like for me to enjoy it.
Um because obviously this is like this is it, uh, good or bad.
So I just kind of enjoy it.
Enjoy obviously the the team, enjoy you know, a meet like this, that's you know, awesome.
It's a it's an awesome meet, it's so much fun.
So I just let myself enjoy it and take it in.
What traditions, you probably already know the answer to this, but what traditions do the gators have leading into NCAAs?
Uh so we have this uh this one tradition, and it'll it'll actually be tonight.
Oh fun.
Yeah, we we kind of have we all get in one hotel room and we have a team meeting, but we kind of just like send it in the in the group chat, and the person that's last uh they have to sing a song in front of the group.
So you can be last, yeah.
Wait, so how do you know if you're last?
You don't well no, well, you you get into the room last and they'll all be like, it's you.
So you gotta pick a song.
Do you have a song locked and loaded in case it's you?
No, I don't.
Yeah.
Um I I've been safe, but I've seen uh there's been a this even, I mean, it because it's funny because even a senior, it could happen to a senior, it's not just like freshmen or anything like that.
Stop like the full song or like a verse or the chorus.
Uh no, we've we've had someone sing the full song before.
What was this what was the sort of you remember?
It was uh well, I I think we had McGuire one year sing the it was the national anthem.
That was a bit boring.
We we had some uh more fun ones.
This year we had a freshman sing uh Bob Marley.
I can't remember which song it was.
Oh, that's cool.
I love the good one.
But uh yeah, I know it's pretty good.
So so that's a tradition.
Yeah, that's awesome.
What do you think you're gonna miss most about being on the college team?
Uh just just the vibes of of the college team, just like that, that kind of brotherhood um that you really I don't think you can get anywhere else.
Um so yeah, that that's the definitely the thing.
Just the boys, that kind of vibe that it brings, especially at a meet like this.
Yeah, yeah.
This episode's gonna air, as I mentioned, after this meet concludes.
If you have a crystal ball right now and you look into it, into the future, what do you see that makes you proud of your performances here and just makes you smile?
Um I would say one j just executing.
Um, but I would just say have fun with each race, like not take it too seriously.
Um, obviously, I got I gotta be dialed in.
That that's just how it works at this meet, but um just remember to enjoy it.
That that's what I would say.
Yeah.
Do you enjoy high pressure meets like this?
So you can find like love and enjoyment in that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like sometimes, I mean, sometimes I just I just need the high pressure environment to kind of get to get firing.
That's just how it how it works for me.
I kind of need that that pressure, just that feeling of okay, the this is a big one right here.
Um I I love that feeling and I love competing.
So that's so cool.
Because I feel like some people yeah, like have you always been like that?
Like how have you how has your I would say transition from you know age group swimming to now in terms of handling nerves gone?
Um I feel like I just I just learned that I I like the competition.
Like first it was like obviously like nervousness is always like a part of it, but I just kind of learned myself like what I liked and kind of what what drives me in sport, and that's like competition and that's bettering myself every day.
And I kind of just kind of focus on that more than anything else, and that's kind of what I thrive of.
Yeah, so yeah.
Is music a part of your race day routine?
Yeah.
What are you listening to?
What am I listening to?
Uh recently I've been listening to Playboy Cardi, but I have uh I I have some playlists, like uh, like obviously I listen to the new J.
Cole album as well.
So I've been listening to that a bit, but I mean I I just have like playlist stuff to get me hyped up.
Um, so yeah, any anything that gets me hyped up along those lines, I'll be I'll be listening to Fore Race Day.
Yeah, I feel like that's spoken like a true sprinter.
Like you have to have it.
Yeah, are you listening to it in the ready room or do you shut it off in the ready room?
Uh no, so so no music in the in the ready room.
That's kind of like my time to like kind of hone in, just like listen to everything, kind of kind of feel the environment.
Uh, but yeah, warm-up, especially like activating music all all the way, maybe even right before I head over to the ready room.
But yeah.
Yeah.
How are you down regulating between prelims finals and then at the end of the day?
Because four days it can add up really quick.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's that's definitely one thing I I found that SECs to me just felt like forever.
Because it was forever.
Yeah.
So so that was definitely a a bit of a a challenge because now this time I had the day off at the beginning of the meet.
Um, whereas usually I had the day off right in the middle.
Um, so I kind of just started and I just was like just going um all the way to the end.
So yeah, I try to stay off my phone.
It's hard, but I try to stay off my phone, especially at night.
Um, read, stuff like that, and just just wind down, just not think about it too much, not think about the next day too much.
Just kind of just chill, take it in, and and then try and get as much sleep as I can.
Yeah.
Who's your roommate?
Eric Brown.
Are you guys always roommates?
Uh yes.
We'll like more more often.
Um I'm roommates with Eric, but I've I've roomed the Ju Julian was NCAA's last year.
Um yeah, and I've I've like switched it up, but I'll say more often than not, I'm I'm with Eric.
You're with Eric.
Yeah, that's awesome.
What are you reading?
Um, I'm reading a book right now that they gave to us, the swim team called The Slight Edge.
I'm actually almost done.
I might be maybe about three-quarters of the way done.
Cool.
Um, but it it's a pretty good book.
What's it about?
It's like uh a lot about mindset and um I like a lot of things like life, just just success, how to be successful in in life.
So I'm kind of reading through that and enjoying it right now.
Yeah, yeah.
What does success look like for you outside of the pool?
Um just I mean, kind of the same thing, just bettering myself.
Like I I I love the feeling of being better in an aspect of of anything, whether that's you know academics, obviously, uh health, um, things like that.
And obviously, just like like family, just you know, keep keeping those relationships um good, um, family, friends, just just that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
I'm on the quest to find a hobby because I realized being friends with her that I don't have hobbies.
And I hope you have hobbies.
Yeah, you got some.
So worst person to compare yourself to.
Yeah, I know.
I'm like, I feel like a failure.
Do you have hobbies?
Yeah, so I actually play music.
Um excuse me.
I'm like actually mad at you right now.
So yeah, I I played strings in high school.
Um I'm not as good as you though.
I'm not as good as you.
How have we not talked about this?
I don't know.
Like, elaborate, you're gonna be able to do that.
I'm actually gonna be mad at you right now, and then what else?
So in my middle school, it was, um, you kind of started.
I I started with like you start with violin, you just learn the basics on violin, kind of how to um get in tune, all that stuff.
And then you choose an instrument.
I chose the cello.
Um I played the she's like so mad.
So mad at you.
Um yeah, so I played the cello for a little bit, and then they needed somebody who was tall to play the double bass, and I was like tall, so they just switched.
Yeah.
What doesn't the man do?
But I was I I like cello more, but I I played double bass a lot more.
I played double bass into high school.
Um, and then and then and then I played guitar because a bit.
But that's like I like play guitar more now because it's easier.
I can't buy it.
It's so easy to casually play guitar.
Yeah, and like traveling and stuff with a like I would want to keep a cello as an instrument, but yeah, it's just a lot.
It's a lot.
It's yeah, yeah.
Wait, so you're somebody that everybody would want to walk in last into that room and like place.
Do you have your guitar here?
Is it something you travel with?
Um no, I don't travel with I think one of the coaches traveled one time with a guitar, but I I've never traveled with it.
It's you want to join her for the national anthem on the last Saturday night.
Um You're not busy.
Um other things.
Yeah, no, I I'm not on her level.
She's gonna make me look bad, but no, not if we duet.
We're okay.
We'll take it.
I'm actually speechless.
So that's really cool, though.
That's really cool.
Wow, yeah.
So you need to pick up like the viola, and then we can have like an actual frido.
Pick that up really quick.
That's what's saying.
Yeah, the viola is actually the one I've never played.
I don't know if I picked up a viola.
I don't even think I could pick a viola out of a lineup.
Like I'd be like, is that it?
No, yeah, you would you would know.
I would.
The viola?
She might confuse it for a violin.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, it seems like they're very similar.
Wait, so let's.
I'm sorry, now I'm getting off track.
Talk music theory.
I hypothetically have my violin, not right now, but like when we visit in April.
Yeah, because we're coming in April to you guys.
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean, we won't be in your well, you might be, it doesn't matter.
We're both gonna be there.
Uh-huh.
Would you play something on it?
I mean, I could probably play like twinkle, twinkle little star.
Perfect.
All right, we'll do it in the locked in.
Oh, that made me so happy.
And it's on camera, so you might have to go back and you need to start by.
Yeah, you have like two full weeks.
Okay.
You're like, I regret answering this question.
Okay, Josh, last question.
If you had to put a word to the Gators team right now, culture, how you guys operate, what would that word be and why?
A word to the whole culture?
Um that's a tough question.
That's a tough question.
I I have to think about this.
I I would want to say something like tough, but I feel like that's already like known.
Um yeah, I mean, I I I guess tough, gritty.
Yeah.
Um that's the the type like I feel like we believe um there's a lot of belief in the team.
So yeah, kind of along along those vibes.
I feel like that's the gator way.
Yeah.
For sure.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
We'll let you go, but we appreciate it.
Yeah, that was awesome.
I gotta be careful now.
She's gonna be like, all right, good thing.
I'm gonna bea Haroon.
Welcome to Unfiltered Waters Squad Energy Edition.
Oh, sweet.
Thank you.
Thank you for thank you for having me.
Of course.
So you just flew in, you swam at the Dynamo pool this morning.
What are you most excited for?
I'm also excited to see what we could do as a team.
You know, I'm very excited.
Uh all of our all of our members have been working really hard.
And um, I'm just excited to show what uh what we've been working on, and I'm sure it'll be really, really fast this this whole week, this whole week.
Yes, sorry.
You will be.
Um can you talk about the culture of ASU and what it's like being on that team?
Yeah, of course.
Um so our culture is really we're like uh kind of like a brother brotherhood.
We're really, really close with each other.
Um we anytime in practice, if one of us is down, we kind of try and bring bring each other up.
And we also push each other a lot, you know, lots of like teasing, of course, going on.
But it's it's just good culture, you know, kind of bringing each other up, trying to make each each other faster.
And um, you know, I really like it.
That's why I kind of like also stay primarily because you know I've been really good friends with these guys, and um, I'm just I'm just happy uh being with these guys as like we push each other as the years goes on.
Yeah.
Would you consider yourself someone who doles out a lot of the teasing, or do you absorb a lot of the teasing?
I mean I mean, I don't I don't really uh like to tease others, uh, but yeah, like some people some of the guys like like to rage bait me on the on the pool deck, kind of like uh well mostly like my dive isn't that good as you guys probably can sometimes see on the thing.
Like I'm really curved.
So he kind of likes they kind of make fun of me for that, but um, but it's alright, you know, I kind of just take it.
Uh but yeah, like so some of the other guys also like like to tease each other.
Um, but yeah, it's all like harmless and it's just good fun.
Yeah, yeah.
That's very what do they call you when they when you have your curved dump?
They don't call me, they just like do the motion.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I I feel like after after this weekend, maybe you can be like, okay, well, yeah, who cares?
It clearly goes well.
No, they just they just they just do it just because like because I because I like it's just a block, but like the swimming portion, of course, like I just yeah, I get them on that.
That's fair.
It's just the deal.
I'm so jealous of guys in a way because I feel like if girls trash talk, it's not received as well.
Yeah, I feel like guys can just like kind of like laugh it off.
Laugh it off and and you know, but no, that's fair.
That's true.
Although I tease you all the time and you take it pretty good.
So that's true.
That's because we're um can you describe a like perfect day in Scottsdale?
Ooh.
Yeah, I I love Scottsdale.
Me and my uh me and my girlfriend actually go up to Scottsdale a lot.
I mean, she's a major.
Because that's like where ASU is.
Yeah, I know.
Uh I but like Scottsdale is like the northern like north of Tempe.
So like which one?
Tempe or Scottsdale?
What's your favorite area?
I love Scottsdale too.
Okay, then we'll go with Scottsdale.
Um, okay, so let's see.
Uh I honestly like the most the one thing I admire about Scottsdale is the parks.
I love the parks.
You know, I'm kind of a I like um I'm kind of a nature guy, so like but not like not like a tree c hugger kind of way, like uh you know, just kind of like like set up a nice like uh blanket and you know just chill like under under a shade, you know, kind of maybe doom scroll a little, you know.
But no, but uh um yeah, just like l I love listening to like the birds and like things like that.
So like honestly, driving up to Scottsdale, maybe uh buying some food and just chilling would be honestly that sounds like a perfect day.
Oh I love that.
I like that too.
Are you a romantic?
Are you good at planning dates for your girlfriend?
Uh I mean, I I've been kind of focusing on NC, so we haven't gone on a date in a bit, but um I f I feel like yeah, I could be like a romantic if I really put my mind into it.
Yeah, that's great.
I think so.
I love nature is cool.
It's uh it's like the best place to kind of like decompress.
Yeah.
Um while you're at a meet, how do you decompress?
Because there you it's not like you can like go to nature quick.
Yeah.
Like like you mean after after like night one or like Yeah, like any time in the meet where maybe you're feeling overwhelmed or like day four and you're like Um That's a hard question.
I don't I don't really know.
I kind of just what I mostly do is just go I go back to my hotel room and then uh like take a shower and then honestly, I just like uh get into my bed and then kind of open up the laptop and then just play some like Roblox or something.
I don't know.
Just like chill.
Yeah, just chill in bed, you know, play some play some games or uh either uh yeah, like go on my phone and just just look at some like uh either news or uh go on social media, laugh a little.
I don't know.
Um but yeah, that I feel like that's the only way to decompress yourself.
Um because you know you don't want to like walk a lot uh because of that, because you don't want to you want to rest up the legs.
Um but yeah, you kind of just that's how you that's how I feel.
Yeah, I just feel that yeah.
What's on you what's your main algorithm right now?
Like if you were to pull up your Instagram, what's the main thing that's coming up?
Uh that's a personal idea.
That's pretty personal.
Um I don't know.
There's sometimes like a little bit of like brain rock going on.
Like um, oh, there's actually, you know, there's actually one that was like trending a little bit.
It's it's kind of uh probably lots of people will see it.
It's like it's like AI fruits, but like it's them as like I love those! But it's kind of like like sometimes it's like a love island, or there's like there's cheating on each other.
Oh my god, those are hilarious stuff.
I love I love uh like watching those, and then like if there's like part one, part two, I'm like, oh yes, let me keep going.
Yes, uh yeah, that's that's what I that's what I can get.
Yeah.
Then you're like two hours later.
Why is it so satisfying?
I don't know.
Just like it's the it's the same voice lines, the same like thing, but it's just like I don't know, it's just like I love the way they just like like move around and they're like animated.
It's so it's so stupid, but I love it.
They're so cute.
Does your team have a song that you listen to in the locker room?
Is there like a theme on your team for this year?
Uh I don't know, but like we what we used to play was um when it used to like hit the weekend, so it'd be like uh actually the song is called weekend, but it's like an EDM song.
Oh, cool.
And um we would do that or free bird every Friday.
Oh yeah, free bird would be a thing.
But we haven't really we don't really usually listen to music like in the locker room, like we don't have a specified thing, but uh uh lots of the guys love to listen to either like funk or like rap music and things like that.
Yeah, yeah.
So I would say free bird.
That would be like kind of our team energy.
I love that.
Yeah.
Yeah, team song.
Do you guys have any set traditions that have been carried through the years pre-NCAAs?
Um I mean we usually like I think like it's every single school kind of tradition that like uh like all the uh freshman guys kind of uh like shave their head, you know, just like coming into NCs.
That's kind of like always a tradition.
Like, yeah, for like any college school, like I I had my um like I shaved my head uh my freshman year.
Like I was I was bald when we when we won NCs.
Yes, I I think that's just like a tradition over like all colleges.
Uh but like this year, uh I mean like the freshman didn't really want to do it, so it was like okay, it's fine.
Um and you guys let them get away with that?
Yeah, I mean like we did we did some teasing we're like oh come on, dude, but like it's whatever.
Um, you know, it's like their choice.
So we didn't honestly we didn't really have like a tradition leading up to this NCs.
We kind of all just locked in, it's like, hey, like let's get it done.
Yeah, yeah.
Um I don't know, yeah.
We didn't really have one.
We're kind of boring, sorry.
No, I mean honestly shaving of heads is a pretty big tradition.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
I mean, yeah, everyone used to like do it every like all the guys freshman year.
Like, yeah.
Yeah it's kind of like a big thing, I would say.
Yeah, I have a question about Herbie.
Oh, yeah.
Does he have like a phrase or something that like like Coach Troy?
I swam in Florida and his was like, if you're a man at night, you gotta be a man in the morning.
Like, does Herbie have any of those?
Oof.
Uh not really, but he always loves to loves to say, like, all right, guys, let's get up and go.
Let's get up and go.
He loves to say that all the time before uh eats like either the meats or uh like practiced during pseudo sets, but he's always like, okay, guys, let's get up and go.
Yeah.
I feel like he has great energy.
He has great energy.
Yeah, he does.
That's awesome.
All right.
If you this is airing after NCAAs comes to a close, if you had a crystal ball right now and you could look into it, what do you see that makes you smile and makes you proud?
Um I would say that uh that I gave my 100% my all into this meet.
Like this, like, and I did like great, you know.
Like I had that like I just like look up into like when I touch the touch my hands on the wall and like and see like the first place, and I just see my team just all like cheering and celebrating, that's that's what would make me smile.
Yeah.
Is your girlfriend here to support you?
No, sorry.
Like she has classes, so like she could.
I know.
But it's it's alright, yeah.
She's watching though.
She's watching the show.
She can watch on the broadcast.
Okay, amazing.
Okay, last question.
If you had to put a word to ASU this year to just define the culture and who you guys are as a team, what would that word be and why?
I think um, that's a that's a good question.
Uh I think it would be um sorry, I'm just thinking.
Oh yeah, maybe it's a hard question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh I'm just trying to like I have it, I just completely forgot.
Um honestly I just think it's power.
Ooh, yeah.
I love power.
Yeah, because uh we have a r a lot of strong guys this year, and I think I think power would be a great way to put it like on how our culture is and and like how strong everyone is.
Yeah, I feel like that's what it is.
Oh, I really like that.
That's a little foreshadowing action right there.
Yeah, yeah.
You're gonna be amazing this week.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, no problem.
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
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Thomas Hellman, welcome to Unfiltered Water Squad Energy Edition.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah.
Let's go.
So excited.
We start tomorrow.
How are you feeling?
I'm excited.
I'm really excited.
Uh this is my first time tapering the entire year.
So you saw the light.
You're like, kind of been itching to like get to this point and uh feel good in the water again.
So I'm just excited to start racing tomorrow.
Yeah.
What's been your favorite part about being at UVA and swimming for Todd and with the team?
Uh, I think kind of similar to like what Jack said, just the passion, especially that it starts with the coaches.
Um, and I think we kind of just feed off their energy, and it's ever every day it's just an a new person is like speaking up in practice or bringing something, some type of energy on the pool deck that kind of gets us all going.
And um, I'm just excited to kind of continue that with the guys here this week.
Yeah.
What has surprised you about the UVA program coming in and what has lived up to the hype?
Uh I guess like I'm gonna kind of give the same answer for both those.
Like in through recruiting, I knew that Todd's like training and the way he ran the program was a little bit unique.
Um but even a lot of the stuff that we did this year, I was not really expecting.
And um, I feel like he has so many training um like techniques and gr gadgets.
Like I've never used uh socks before.
Right.
And we literally use socks like every day.
And I feel like it's so challenging, but it's also like I feel like I get so much out of it, and uh just stuff like other things like that.
Um that I feel like I was kind of expecting, but just not to the uh extreme end that he kind of utilizes that kind of stuff.
Um but it's all been really good.
Did this year ramp up?
I feel like across the board we've heard a lot of Virginia people say like this year has been harder than others.
I definitely heard that from some teammates, and Todd kind of said that like he's gonna push us the team at like harder than he's ever done before.
Um obviously I don't know like what they've done in the past, but um I mean, even like me personally, is that by far the hardest year of training I've ever had?
Um and like I haven't gone any haven't really gotten any best times yet this year, but um I've been close and like doing that on no rest is like giving me a lot of confidence.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Has that been tough?
I mean, I feel like you go from a high school program, obviously your program was really hard and challenging, but it's a totally different, it's a totally different environment.
You're not at home, you're not cooking getting your mom to cook for you, like all these things.
How have you kind of found little moments where you can keep some normalcy into a completely brand new environment?
Yeah, it's definitely helped that I'm close to home and my brother's on the team, and so we spend a lot of time together and even go home every once in a while and see our family.
Um, but then also I just have some familiarity with with Todd and Gary on the coaching staff, um, which has been helpful.
Um and I I think the main the biggest thing I point to is my brother just like helping me acclimate to college and give me advice and like having people to know on the team and around the university before I even got there.
Yeah.
Um, which has been super helpful to kind of like adjust to everything else that's new and and challenging.
It was almost like you were going home to your second home, it felt like yeah, yeah.
Definitely.
Yeah.
What is uh do you have a favorite class you're taking right now at UVA?
Right now, uh macroeconomics.
Okay.
Oh my gosh.
I really like my professor.
Um he's been awesome.
And uh I took I took micro last year in high school and liked it a little bit, and so that was kind of why I jumped into this.
But um, just the way he teaches the class is is pretty entertaining.
A good professor can like make or break a class.
Yeah.
Are you what do you imagine?
I mean, this is a really difficult question right in the beginning of your college career, but what do you imagine doing with that or doing with your degree?
Are you undecided?
I have no idea.
Yeah, I'd love to get like yeah, I'm for sure.
Like, I mean, I kind of want to swim for I want to say as long as I can, but like I want to keep swimming for a while.
Totally, yeah.
Um as long as I'm enjoying it.
And but then after that, I kind of I still want to kind of kind of stay in sports.
Um, obviously, preferably swimming, but um I'd say like 90% of my time is spent around either swimming or watching swimming or watching other sports.
Um, and that's like kind of my whole life, I guess.
I would say so.
I just love that.
Yeah, I just love being in those environments and like the competition and uh yeah, so I just like being around that.
Broadcasting aspirations.
I don't know.
Let us know when the day comes.
Yeah, maybe I'd love I'd love that.
Um seems like an amazing, amazing way to sti stick around.
Yeah, no one's been the best.
Yeah.
Um, do you what is your favorite part about competing?
Uh do you like competing?
Oh, yeah.
I mean this sounds kind of like egotistical, but just like I don't know, just like the feeling of winning and losing and losing.
Like losing losing sucks.
Yeah, like it sucks so bad, but like it just makes winning so much better.
Yeah.
Um and I mean, I don't know, that was kind of one of the reasons I wanted to be a UBA.
Like they haven't they've been close in the past to like kind of breaking into the top, top programs.
And uh, I think like hopefully being able to do that with with these guys that you know believe in me and I believe in them and the coaching the coaching staff, like finally hopefully breaking into like the top three or four and yeah, having a chance of winning in the next couple of years, like that's that's why I wanted to come here.
I love that mindset.
Me too.
That's to me, like you're lying if you say, like, uh, I don't do this.
I don't care about women.
I'd be like so.
We had we were here for the women and got to watch obviously them absolutely annihilate everybody.
But something that was really touching was the fact that the girls had your mom's initials on their shoulder.
Um, and obviously after her passing, I can't even you can, but I can't even begin to imagine.
Can you share anything you're willing of just how you're handling that?
Yeah, uh it's been it's been hard, but it's also been amazing because not amazing, but I've had a lot of support from people on the team, uh, the UBA community, the swimming community, um, that's made it easier.
And uh I think Claire Kurzan was kind of the one who orchestrated a lot of the stuff last week that you were talking about.
And uh that's just like a small example of the way that um they're helping me and my brother and my family out.
Um, so it's been really amazing to have them.
Did you know Claire was gonna organize that or was it a surprise for you?
Well, she originally asked my brother and I about doing like ribbons.
Um, and they may have, I don't know if they did it, they may have done that as well, but uh I honestly didn't really even know about the initials until I saw it.
And uh Wow.
So it was amazing.
And then uh I had like high school friends who are also swimmers in in college now, like asking me about it, and so it was it was good.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, she will be with you this week for sure.
Yeah and your brother, yeah.
Yeah.
If you had to put you got a little sneak preview of this already, but you've watched I I want to hear both.
If you could put a word beyond passion to the culture that is UVN, that would be why.
I'd say like togetherness, and then all the kind of add-on, like I think just like energy, like passion, I think is like focused towards like the swimming, just like energy as well.
Yeah.
Like outside the pool, like I spend almost all my time with the guys, and then obviously the girls sometimes too.
Um like doing like eating meals together, spending time together on the weekends, watching football during the fall, and like yeah, the last few days, like we've all kind of gathered together to watch March Madness.
And so it's just like so much fun to spend time with them outside the water when we're not like focused on swimming or like trauma bonding together.
So Matt's kind of used a couple of words.
Yeah.
So I just say, yeah, I think like togetherness.
Um I think it it's why we're like so so passionate about trying to like swim faster for each other and and win together.
You can feel that on deck.
Like when we came in November, I was like, okay, like it's palpable on the Virginia team has that.
Um wait, last thing, when you gave your speech, what was your theme?
I haven't given mine yet.
Are you doing it tonight?
I think so, yeah.
Do you get nervous doing that?
Uh probably not for like these guys like doing in front of the.
Yeah, they're like your family.
Yeah.
Um I feel like I get a little bit nervous for like public speaking.
Um, but we'll see.
I haven't really thought about what I'm gonna say yet.
Exactly.
So maybe this will inspire you.
I was gonna say, can we get a little pre because this will come out after you already said it.
So like is there any preview you could give us in terms of like kind of what's starting to formulate in your head?
I feel like I kind of want to share like some of the experiences I've had um at big meets like this.
Obviously, um, I haven't been to NCAs before, but uh being at Worlds and Olympics and being around the people at those meets who have the that kind of experience and give the advice to us younger guys, like I feel like I can still kind of impart some some wisdom on the team and uh hopefully calm the nerves a little bit and just get us excited that race tomorrow.
I mean, how rare that you have a freshman who's already been to the Olympics as a guy.
Like that is I know that's probably not lost on you, but I just had to say that for people listening to the show.
For sure.
And like insane.
That absolutely gives you ground to stand on.
Like you you've had experiences that most will never have.
Yeah.
And you're you're more than equipped to handle NCAAs.
You'll be fine.
I I was, I mean, you guys didn't ask this, but I was thinking about during while you guys were asking Jack about the nerves between like a international level and NCAs.
And I feel like I get so much more nervous for these meets than like uh world championships or like a nationals, like a trial to meet.
Um I was thinking back to like Olympic trials and like going out for the final of the 200 fly, which was my first final swim of that meet.
And I was like, Yeah, I'll just take the Olympic team.
I don't know.
It's just like I was very calm in that moment, and like I was confident in what was gonna happen.
And yeah, uh, and then I got to my first dual meet against Florida this fall, and I was like too.
And I was like so nervous, but it's like going out for the I think it was four medley relay to start.
And I think relays in general always get you a little bit more nervous just because um it's four guys and you feel like you're swimming for more than yourself, um, aside from just like the team standing on the deck.
But uh yeah, that was kind of my first taste of of that, and um I'm excited for this week.
I think it's gonna it's gonna be a lot of fun and gonna see a lot of fast swimming, which is always good.
Yeah, and you're gonna be one of those fast swimmers.
We're excited.
Uh I I do I'm doing the prelims broadcast, and I keep saying like I'm trying really hard not to be, I'm supposed to be unbiased and not like being too excited, but it's gonna be really difficult when I'm watching you swim.
So we're excited to scream our heads off and watch you do what you want to do and crush it.
Thank you.
Best of luck.
Yeah, thanks.
Yeah.
Jack Akins, welcome to Unfiltered Waters Squad Energy Edition.
Thanks for having me.
Yes.
Good to have you.
How's the vibe on deck?
It's great.
I mean, we uh we got here yesterday, so it's nice to get settled in and I think all our boys are feeling really good, ready to race.
We're excited.
So trying to bottle up that energy and not use it up before we before we have to.
I know.
That's the hardest thing about taper because you're like, I know so much energy.
You don't want to use it.
Especially Maximus Williamson.
He's bouncing off the walls every day, and we gotta keep him contained.
Yeah, like sit down.
Have you done anything since getting to Atlanta?
Not really.
We just um settled into the hotel yesterday, um, came in for a swim, had some dinner.
Nice.
That's it, pretty much.
Pretty, pretty standard.
Yeah.
How do how do you do that?
Like, Maximus, I know is probably a tall task to keep him calm, but how how do you stay calm?
How do you regulate your nerves?
Um, I think I've gotten better at it over the years.
I Todd just always tells us bottle it up, bottle it up, bottle it up.
So that's what we do every day.
Just like we don't have to do anything until the meet, just relax, focus on your races when they come.
And it's it's nothing special, really.
Just chill until you don't have to, until you can't chill anymore.
Yeah.
Because then like on day four, you're like, man, I wish I could have chilled, like I did on day like Tuesday or something.
100%.
Um, this is your last NCs.
And you kind of mentioned it earlier, full circle.
Your first one was here at tech.
We're at tech again.
What do you want to see happen this week?
Um I just wanna, you know, like first of all, like I'm I'm really proud of how the season has gone, like for the for the team as a whole.
So I just want to end it, end my career on a good note.
Like my first uh first NCAAs, last time we swam here, it was it was really good.
We were, I think we're top ten.
So I think we're trying to get back to that.
Um so yeah, I think that would collectively be a be a really good thing for us to for us to have, yeah.
What has changed from Jack here four years ago and Jack now?
I think like I just like I know what I'm doing now.
Like there.
I have like it's it's like I don't have to ask my coaches for everything anymore.
Like I kind of I trust myself and trust my own process.
Like I know what I need to do on race day and know the type of preparation I need before each event.
So it's a little bit more of just like trusting myself that I've been here before and I know like what this is gonna take to what it takes to succeed.
So it's it's gotten a little easier in that regard.
Yeah, that helps.
Um, how would you describe Virginia men's swimming culture?
Hmm.
That's a tough one.
I think it it's it's a lot of energy on deck every day, like as you know, you've been there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, true.
I don't think it's just a lot of energy, a lot of camaraderie.
We're very, very close, both men's and women's teams, so that helps us a lot.
Um yeah, I think just passion is probably my one-word summary.
Oh, that's great.
Do you have any passions outside of swimming?
Yeah, I do.
Like I asked that like a crazy question, but like it's hard to do when you're so dialed into it.
Yeah, it is.
I've I've recently got into um like making music on FL Studio.
Where's like I'm everybody's making music?
Wait, what is FL Studio?
It's like uh an audio interface on on your computer where you can like put together like like Pro Tools or Logic Pro stuff.
Yeah, it's it's kind of like that.
I'm not very good at it, but okay.
Well, describe your music.
It's like it's like kind of like trap beats, like rap, trap beats, like stuff like that.
It's like so cool.
Yeah, I'm that's uh takes up a little my time outside the pool.
Um I don't know.
Do you rap on them and like write your own lyrics?
I was about to be so excited if he's like that's what Maximus does.
Maybe someday.
There's a couple guys on the team actually that have a band.
Um David, Dylan, Spencer.
There's somebody else.
Thomas, do you know?
Maximus, isn't it?
Oh, it is Maximus.
Oh, I don't know.
Yeah, yeah, they do have a band.
I think David's a drummer.
I'm not sure what else goes on there.
Spencer might sing, I think.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, we need you like doing some type of beat.
Yeah, they'll get the um, they'll get it all recorded and I'll produce it for them under my my label.
So you're producer.
Yeah.
What's your label name?
I don't know.
I gotta figure that out.
We'll we'll think of something good.
Yeah.
I named mine because like I just use DistroKid for like my distributor when I upload stuff, and I you can make up your label name.
Like it could be like Katie Hoff Records.
I named mine Ready Room Records.
Yeah, because I was like, oh, an homosh to swimming.
So maybe you could do something really good.
Yeah, something along the lines of swimming or Virginia, something like that.
Wow, that is so cool.
That's really neat.
I do you have you followed the Lither Litherlin trip list?
I do follow them, yeah.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, their music is super cool.
Yeah, it is very cool.
Um, I want to go back to something that you said earlier.
You said ending your career.
Did you mean like career, Virginia?
Just my NCAA career.
Okay, okay.
I was like, I was like, no.
You're like, don't you have things to do this on the case?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What traditions do the men specifically have?
I know the women at UVA have traditions leading into NCAAs, but what do you guys do together?
Um we just try to spend a lot of time together, like as the NCAA team and feel really cohesive.
Um the women also do this too, but we give speeches to each other, like that each day um somebody or or maybe a couple people each give a speech to the team and just kind of let everybody know how they're feeling, get really excited about the meet, um and just like put it all all out on the table for for everyone, and so we can all kind of feel what everyone's going through and know what people's goals are.
And we all just try to be there for each other and really be invested in what each individual is trying to achieve so we can like know what what they want out of the meat as well as what we want and be there for each other and and stuff like that.
What was your theme of your speech?
Mine kind of went over I did mine last night, and it was just kind of reminding each person on our team what they've done in the past and like what they're capable of.
So I went around and like said some of everybody's greatest accomplishments.
Um, just like I know that helps me.
Like if I'm feeling nervous, like remind myself who I am, like what I've been able to do in the past, I know what it takes.
Um, so I think that that's a helpful reminder to to everyone to think of things that you've been able to do so far.
Yeah, that's so thoughtful.
I feel like that's a great message to kids because it's like that's the number one thing I'm sure you'd get asked it too.
It's like, how do you combat nerves?
How do you combat not having confidence?
That it's like, what have you done in the past?
So that's that's awesome.
And a lot of people have like imposter syndrome when they get to a big me, like, I don't belong here.
You do belong here.
But that's the most important thing to remember.
Yeah.
Have you felt that maybe freshman year?
Yeah, I kind of felt that my first year, like walking onto the pool deck, just feeling like, wow, everyone is so fast.
Like so fast.
But I earned the spot.
So we all did.
So it's an equal playing field.
Can you compare that feeling to walking on the deck at the Olympics versus at NCAAs?
But like just like talking to teammates, being on being on UVA, like what that intimidating feeling feels like.
I feel like in that type of setting, it's a little different because when when we're when we're at a meet like NCAA's, you have your team and they're all like competing for the same thing.
So it's like it's a little bit different in that regard.
Whereas long course swimming and like a world championship qualification type or worlds type meet is very like it's it feels very selfish because you're literally just competing to put yourself on a team.
Or or I mean once you get to the world champs or Olympics or whatever it is, you're competing for team ESA, obviously, but it still feels a little bit um more separated than an NCAA setting, I feel like.
Is it more pressure at NCs in a way?
I mean Or just different.
It's different because it is it is a lot of pressure.
Like you need to I mean, our our program it hinges on what each individual is able to do for the to push the program forward.
Like the the overall points is a conglomeration of everyone's ability.
So it is a lot of pressure in that regard.
But I I mean the same can be said for when you're representing the United States at a at a big competition.
So it's it's the same but different.
I'm always just so curious because I didn't swim in CAA, so I'm always just like, what does the feeling feel differently?
So I try not to like think about NCs too hard because like you think about Todd and like his job is to coach.
And like if you guys swim well, that reflects well on Todd, and then like Todd, not not that Todd's ability to coach isn't question at all, but like it's such a ripple effect, like what you guys do in the water for so many people.
Yeah, he was talking about that to us the other day.
He was saying, like, you guys don't swim for the University of Virginia, you are the University of Virginia.
Yeah, like what we do is what people will remember for this program and what people will say on Swim Swam and everything, like that we are the university.
Yeah.
Yes, that's really cool.
So your word for the culture at men's UVA is passion.
If you have to look back on your career at UVA individually, what's your word?
I'd I would probably say growth.
I think like each year I've been able to, regardless of outcome, learn something and move forward from it.
Either something that I can address in training or address mentally.
I think I've learned a lot of things that have helped me get to where I am now.
And um, so yeah, that's probably what I'd say.
Can't wait to watch you this week.
I know.
Last one.
Feeling good.
Soak it up.
Yeah, yeah, we'll do.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Of course, yeah.
Thanks for having me.
Thanks, Jack.