Holden Smith '21 Recruiting Profile

    My name is Holden Smith and I am from Louisville Kentucky.  I have been swimming since I was three years old. I started on a small summer league team and still swim on the same team today. Through the years, my passion continues to grow for the sport of swimming. When I was five years old, my parents signed me up for club swimming. I started at Cardinal Aquatics and took off from there. I set three state records and started to get better everyday. A few years later when I was eleven, I switched club teams. I decided it would be best for me to swim at Triton,  another local club team in Louisville.  Many factors led into my change like location, monthly fees, and the desire to race every day.  After a while, I started to settle in and take off again setting three more state records.  Just a few years later, I met Michael Andrew and his family. After a few visits out to Kansas, I fell in love with Race Pace training, leading me to soon ask my dad, an ophthalmologist,  to coach me. My dad has now been coaching me for two years and our father son relationship has gotten tighter every day. After a year of training, my dad hired another coach named Carlos Almeida, a two time Olympian and NCAA champion in the 200 breaststroke, to help coach me and give me more college level workouts.  Since Carlos has been coaching me, I have been hybrid training consisting of Race Pace with my dad, and longer aerobic practices with Carlos.

    There are many things that make me stand out in the sea of swimmers. First, I hate to lose more than anyone. Winning is always nice but I hate to lose more than I love to win. Secondly, my training provides me with a hybrid that keeps the yardage lower than a typical club swimmer but also gives me the speed and aerobic endurance I need. Also, my training doesn't lead to a "burn out".  Since I am not pounding thousands of yards everyday, I am less likely to "burn out" and my body will be more primed to take on the college training load. Another thing that makes me stand out is that I have great leadership skills. I was voted captain for my high school swim team as a freshman to be a captain as a sophomore. My high school team has won thirty consecutive state championship titles. On top of that, when I was in grade school, I was invited to many leadership conferences and meetings and was classified as a class leader in my class. I am very passionate and enthusiastic about what I do day in and day out and love making myself better every day.