15-year-old swimming phenom Thomas Heilman hit his taper at U.S. International Team Trials, qualifying for the Jr Pan Pacs U.S. Team in three events. At Jr. Pan Pacs athletes can swim more events once they’ve made the team. Based on this interview it sounds like Heilman will compete daily in Hawaii, August 24-27.
After U.S. Team Trials Heilman took a few days off and started his long training cycle. Jr Pan Pacs, his first USA Swimming national team trip, is not until the end of August. Heilman will compete at both Jr Nationals and the Phillips 66 Summer Nationals in Irvine, CA as a tune-up.
In this interview we hear from Heilman’s coach, Cavalier Aquatics’ Gary Taylor, and we hear from Heilman’s mom, Carrie, for insight into the family dynamic and his support at home. After nearly four decades of following this sport closely, Heilman’s setup well for success. Swimming lives on the shoulder’s of its parents, and when parents allow their kids to take ownership and not push them, that’s a winning combination.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
OMG how is Heilman so fast!? The guy has really shown himself in the big leagues,
I hope he reaches his goals! ( He really deserves it )
…And I get to go to his school! He’s really kind and genuine irl too 🙂
A good guy, to be sure
I think it’s awesome that his SwimCloud page lists his best 25Y free time. It’s 15.22, BTW. 11/8/2014
https://www.swimcloud.com/swimmer/1336401/
Ha! Agreed
I wish all my parents had been like Heilman’s mother when I was coaching age group.
unfortunately many of us are a nightmare for coaches
let me dig deeper and with my completely incompetent background in the subject, recap:
…Jr Pan Pacs is coming up. First Team USA trips matter in a young person’s career. Most Nat Team peers (going back 40 year) have stories around these first experiences and how they impacted their careers positively.
Júnior world level meets are relatively new, I cant try and put guys like Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe in this scenario…
Nowadays I think only Popovici gets somewhere close to it.
There have always been international team trips, going back 50 years, but, correct, not on a global stage.
Thanks for your recap! Saved me time from clicking the vid.
This kid is a real talent. But having all these articles and hype about him is a lot of pressure. Hope that he can continue swimming because he likes it not because there is an expectation for him to be the next dressel or something.
…most elites become great 12-18 bc they do all of the hard dev work. He’s doing that now. If history proves anything, he’ll narrow his focus as he get older and will have a great college career. Anything else is a bonus.