Wendy Szymczak

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  • Current Age Group: 65-69
  • Team you are a part of:  FAST (since 2010)
  • When did you start competitively swimming? I swam on a Y team (think tiny 20yd, 4 lane pool) in Cleveland starting at age 13. My first year of both high school and college were the first years they had a women’s swim team (thank you Title IX!)
  • How long have you been in Michigan Masters? Since 2010 when I moved back to the US from Poland. I swam Masters in Poland starting in 2006 to rehab my disintegrating knees.
  • What is your favorite swim event/race?  I am a sprinter and love to do the 50 freestyle…explode! Get in, get out.
  • So far, what was your favorite Masters Swim Meet? USMS Summer Nationals in Minneapolis 2017. In late 2015 I was in a motor vehicle accident: broke 7 bones in my chest (two never healed), got a frozen shoulder and severe positional vertigo. I was out of the water for over a year, healing and rehab-ing. I was told I would not do competitive swimming ever again. This was my “comeback” meet, when I proved I COULD race and be fast again. I placed 5th in the 50 free.
  • What is your favorite set? Butterfly drill 50s gradually adding more full strokes
  • What is something you need to improve or are constantly working on in the pool? Consistency! If regular training is not planned, life pushes it out. Also, kicking.
  • What are your big swim goal(s)? Swim the 200fly once in a meet this year and swim around Mackinaw Island this summer.
  • Favorite swim Olympian? Dara Torres, she kept sprinting great even when older.
  • What do you like to do outside the pool? Most anything involving water/family/friends–my husband and I love to SUP, kayak, sail, bike…   I also love kids, especially the smallest, so I am a pediatrician, help moms with lactation, do OB ultrasound to help moms realize they have an amazing human being growing inside them, teach parenting classes, play with my grandkids and any child who will smile back at me!