Out of the pool, for a spell

Published 7:00 pm Saturday, August 14, 2004

The Silver sisters catch their breath, watch the Athens games.

Seven hundred of the world’s premier swimmers, a stadium with 10,000 spectators and only two events to exhibit years of training. That was the story of the Olympic Trials.

“The competition was tough,” said 20-year-old islander Helen Silver. “But the only thing that made me nervous was my own expectations of myself.”

Helen and her 18-year-old sister Emily are back on the Island after competing in the 2004 Olympic Trials in Long Beach, Calif. last month. Both are taking a break after the grueling road they traveled.

Emily left Bainbridge in the middle of her senior year of high school to train in California with the Irvine-based Novaquatics swim team. She made her first Olympic Trials appearance in the 50 and 100 Meter Freestyle.

“I wasn’t that nervous,” Emily said. “It just felt surreal – I didn’t feel like I was there.”

Surreal can only have intensified when Jenny Thompson, three-time Olympian and most decorated swimmer in the world, competed in the same event only a few lanes away.

Despite the high-profile competition, Emily managed to take 15th in the nation for the 50 Freestyle with a time of 26.09 and 30th in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 57.28.

The competition was Helen’s second Olympic trial performance. Going into the event, she knew her attitude toward this year’s competition would be much different than when she first attended trials in 2000.

“I was 16 before, I didn’t know people and I was overwhelmed by it all,” Helen said. “This year I went with a team of people I knew, I felt like more of a leader and that I had come a long way as a person.”

Since Helen began swimming competitively, she had always taken breaks from training.

However, for the past year, she decided to stay in Berkeley and fully dedicate herself to swimming with University of California, Berkeley’s club team, California Aquatics.

Helen took 38th in the 200 Meter Backstroke with a time of 2:21.28 and 35th in the 100 Meter Backstroke with 1:05.07. She had hoped to make personal bests.

“I was frustrated with where I was,” Helen said. “It’s hard when you have trained so much and the times don’t reflect that commitment.”

Before the event, training was constant and intense. Early-morning practices would go for almost four hours, six days a week, with alternating double training days.

On top of swimming, the girls cross-trained with cycling, yoga, pilates and weight lifting.

In the little free time they had left, the pair took up surfing and spent time with family who had come from Washington and the East Coast to witness the event.

Despite the rigorous schedule, both developed a strong relationship with their teammates and their own love of swimming.

“If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t be doing this,” Helen said. “The racing is exciting and I want to keep swimming faster and drop time. If I ever stop, I wouldn’t miss the early mornings or the soreness, I would miss the girls on the team.”

Helen has been attending UC-Berkeley for the past two years on a swimming scholarship. Emily has received a similar scholarship and will join her sister at Berkeley next year.

Both will train with coach Teri McKeever, a distinguished All-American swimmer who, in Athens, will become the first woman to coach a U.S. Olympic team.

With the pressure of trials fading away and a few weeks left in summer, the girls want only one thing – a real break.

So far, the only time Emily is spending in the pool is when she teaches private swim lessons.

“I want to make the 2008 team – I would really like to get to that higher level,” Emily said. “But for now it’s nice not to have to get up for practice in the mornings.”

Helen has a 10-day break before heading back down to California. “My mom’s planned out my schedule. I’m going to be spending my time sleeping, eating and shopping. It’s the perfect amount of time for a break, not enough to get bored.”