| Page 3 of 4 < > |
The Glare of Gold
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
When Ziegler goes out of town now, she finds time to practice regardless. Ziegler and her mom had hoped to go to New York early for the Golden Goggles, maybe to catch a Broadway show. Instead, they took a later train with Benecki because the coach held a long, exhausting Sunday practice. Ziegler spent most of her train ride complaining of hunger and soreness.
At least, Ziegler figured, the Golden Goggles would provide a day off -- but then that disappeared, too. In between an awards-show rehearsal and the photo shoot, Ziegler and Benecki took a 30-minute cab ride to a pool and squeezed in a full practice. Cathy, who had hoped to spend the afternoon shopping with her daughter, walked back to the hotel alone.
With 30 other elite swimmers in the city, only Ziegler spent her afternoon in the pool.
"No matter what, she's always the last one out of the water," Benecki said hours after the New York practice.
"Yeah," said Ziegler, standing nearby, "that's because you keep me there like 500 million hours."
"Well it works, doesn't it?" Benecki said.
To that, Ziegler had no response. It was Benecki's ultimate trump card, the endpoint to every argument about scheduling or commitment. His practices -- exhaustively demanding, infuriatingly inflexible -- had produced nearly unparalleled results, transforming Ziegler from a little-known 15-year-old to a 17-year-old phenom.
Unwilling to disrupt such rapid improvement, Ziegler had decided -- initially against her parents' instincts -- to stay near home for college and train with Benecki instead of accepting a swimming scholarship to a top NCAA program.
"We sort of had to let go of some of the visions we had for her, because when we had those visions she wasn't this good," Cathy said. "She knew being with Ray was very important. We've been a little slower to get there than she was."
Little else about Ziegler's future has been determined. Two swimwear companies -- Speedo and TYR -- have made at least preliminary pitches to persuade Ziegler to turn pro and give up her NCAA eligibility. If she decides to do that, she'll likely also attend George Mason solely as a student.
"There's still a lot of stuff to figure out," Benecki said. "Until all of it is behind her, she's going to be a little distracted. She's in a phase right now where there are a lot of demands on her time."
An Abrupt Transition
Other swimmers who have been through similar transitions, whose success has brought increased notoriety, say there's only one way to handle the shift:
