The Morning Swim Show, Dec. 2, 2011: David Nolan Talks About Transition From High School to College

PHOENIX, Arizona, December 2. DAVID Nolan is feeling re-energized in the first half of his freshman year at Stanford University, and on today's edition of The Morning Swim Show he talks about how the team is shaping his focus.

Nolan also details some of the differences between the Bay Area and his hometown of Hershey, Pa., and whether he's figured out which three individual events he'll race at the NCAAs. Watch the full show in the video player below and visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.

Special Thanks to Finis for sponsoring the Morning Swim Show's interview segments in the Finis Monitor.
Download The FINIS Custom Suit Catalog
Download The FINIS 2012 Product Catalog
Visit Finis to learn more about their innovative products for aquatic athletes.

Show Transcript: (Note: This is an automated service where some typos and grammatical errors may occur.)

Peter Busch: Welcome to the Morning Swim Show for Friday, December 2nd, 2011. I'm your host Peter Busch. In the FINIS Monitor today we'll talk to David Nolan. The Stanford freshman is living up to the hype, posting some of the fastest collegiate times in the country so far this year. David joins us right now in the FINIS Monitor from Palo Alto, California. Hey, David, welcome back to the show. How are you?

David Nolan: I'm good. How are you, Peter?

Peter Busch: Good, thanks. Good to see you swimming fast.

David Nolan: Thanks. Yeah, we just had our meet down there in Long Beach two weekends ago before Thanksgiving break and we posted some fast times.

Peter Busch: I should say it's not a surprise to see you swimming fast; after all, you were the greatest high school swimmer in history. But, you know, it's a lot of pressure to take in to a new environment. Did you feel that at all when you showed up at Palo Alto?

David Nolan: Yeah, there's a little bit of pressure, but, you know, all you can do is work your tail off and hope that it pays off in the end. And, so far, it's been working pretty well.

Peter Busch: Did your coaches or fellow swimmers treat you any differently because of what you had done in high school?

David Nolan: No, not at all. That's what's awesome about it.

Peter Busch: All right, so –

David Nolan: The most I get is just, like, jokes. They, like, they talk. And at the last time we were talking you mentioned that video that went up on YouTube, I just get teased about that a lot. But, other than that, everyone's on the same level here. It's pretty awesome.

Peter Busch: Good. That's a good environment for you to succeed in. Well, you're going fast, as we mentioned, 1:44.6 in the 200 IM, 1:42 in the 200 back, fastest times of the year so far in college swimming. What is different about the training that you're doing there as supposed to what you did in high school?

David Nolan: Well, there's two big things; one, the aerobic base that we got. We've been working on aerobic stuff for a lot of the year so far and that's something that we've — we never did back at Hershey, to this extent at least. We usually start out with drills and then work our way into more aerobic sense but we'd still only do it a couple times a week. And here it was just pounding out yardage for the first, like, two months and we're just starting to split off until IM or sprint groups so. And then the other thing is that back in high school it was — there was a lot of — I wouldn't say negative attitudes from all the other swimmers, but it definitely wasn't coming to practice every day to get ready to kick some butt and work towards the end of the season. It was just kind of, like, I can't wait to get through practice today. But here, it's, you know, we're all really motivated to swim fast everyday and hope that it pays off later.

Peter Busch: That's probably good for you because last time we talked you were very honest and I appreciated it about, you know, how sometimes motivation was tough for you and maybe your batteries were a little bit drained. Do you feel like you've been rejuvenated?

David Nolan: Yeah, absolutely. We haven't really gone down in motivation — well, I haven't gone down in motivation at all. I've been really excited to come into practice every day and see how well I can do, and everyday there's a new challenge that I'm ready to tackle.

Peter Busch: Biggest difference from Hershey, Pennsylvania, to Palo Alto, California?

David Nolan: Biggest difference. I guess it's the people. I mean, we — there's — we're in California now so it's — you have — when we go into the city, there's a lot of people that are kinda — they're not — let's just say, I was at Starbucks the other day and I held the door for a lady and she just looked at me and kind of looked away. It's, like, are you serious? And back at home I wasn't used to that. It was, like, usually, everyone, like, it was just, like, oh, thank you, you know, that was really nice, but I think the people is a big change. I guess, weather, you could say. The weather is nice. I didn't think it would get as cold as it is right now, but it's still nicer than rain every day, and then it's gonna start snowing back at home soon, so that's another big difference.

Peter Busch: It's fair to say there are a little bit more salt of the earth than Hershey, Pennsylvania.

David Nolan: Yeah.

Peter Busch: So you could swim — you could probably A final in about eight different events this year. What are gonna be your three?

David Nolan: I really — I, honestly, don't know yet. Probably, the 200 IM and the other two are just up in the air. We'd — whatever is best for the team.

Peter Busch: 400 IM, you think, or you're trying to shy away from that?

David Nolan: I mean, personally, I'd like to stay away from that as long as I can. But if that's what's gonna help the team, then I'll be swimming.

Peter Busch: Relays, you know the team better than us, you know, do you expect to be on all four relays, three relays, what do you think?

David Nolan: I'm not sure. We've had some outstanding performances this year and everyone is really stepping up to their A game and swim really fast so, you know, again, it's gonna be whatever is best for the team and, like, if there's a — if there's a relay and then an event and I'm supposed to swim the event, then someone else could easily take my place in the relay and it's not be, like, negatively affected, you know, coz — so whatever is best for the team.

Peter Busch: You have any big Christmas plans, David?

David Nolan: Just going back home, I say, and then coming back here for training two days after Christmas. Can't wait.

Peter Busch: You sound so excited. Well, man, it's good to talk to you, great to see you swimming well, and have a great holiday season.

David Nolan: Thanks, you, too.

Peter Busch: All right, that's David Nolan joining us in the FINIS Monitor from Stanford. And that is it for today's show. I'm Peter Busch reminding you to keep you head down at the finish.

Subscribe to this show FREE via iTunes!

To purchase this or previous episodes of The Morning Swim Show, to send comments or show suggestions, click here to send an email.

To purchase copies of our Ready Room interviews, click here.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use