{"id":355404,"date":"2019-03-04T04:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-04T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=355404"},"modified":"2019-03-02T10:59:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T17:59:46","slug":"swimming-world-presents-blue-collar-swimmer-andrew-seliskar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-blue-collar-swimmer-andrew-seliskar\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Presents “Blue Collar Swimmer: Andrew Seliskar”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blue Collar Swimmer:<\/span> Andrew Seliskar <\/span><\/h2>\n

Cal’s Humble Superstar
\n<\/span><\/h3>\n

Cal\u2019s Andrew Seliskar<\/strong> has put in the hard work to enable him to swim at a higher level. He loves the sport, and he knows that if he wants to be successful at swimming, he has to be fully invested into it. He constantly focuses on not letting himself be satisfied by one or two great swims, preferring to keep a goal-oriented, future-focused mindset.<\/p>\n

Cal men\u2019s head coach Dave Durden<\/strong>, who has worked with Seliskar since the fall of 2015, likes to consider the previous 18 months\u2019 worth of training when assessing performance. Therefore, it would have been tough for Seliskar to be at his best at the 2016 Olympic Trials, before which he had only spent 10 months in Berkeley. Durden called that \u201ca rather short snapshot to work with an athlete and really help them have success at the meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his impressive sophomore year at Cal (2017), when Seliskar finished second in the 400 IM at NCAAs, his entire summer was derailed when he broke his arm in a skateboarding accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, as we started the fall of 2017, we got a good amount of time with Andrew,\u201d Durden said. Sometime in December or January\u2014Seliskar and Durden couldn’t pinpoint a specific moment, set or day\u2014everything clicked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to say I had been taking swimming for granted a little bit, but I feel like every day when I hit the water during my junior year, it was like, \u2018I\u2019m really, really happy to be swimming in college and to be able to keep swimming\u2014just because it\u2019s something I love,\u2019\u201d Seliskar said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As 2017 gave way to 2018, Seliskar was finding more excitement in racing his teammates or getting breakfast after practice. Realizing how content he was with his life and swimming strengthened his resolve. 2018 was a banner year for Seliskar, and it culminated with gold and silver medals at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

To read more about Andrew Seliskar and his work ethic toward training in his final year as a Cal Bear,
\ncheck out the March 2019<\/a> issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/em>, available now!<\/p>\n

Swimming World subscribers can download this issue in the Swimming World Vault<\/span><\/a><\/span>!<\/p>\n

\"SW<\/a><\/p>\n

[PHOTO CREDIT: PETER H. BICK]<\/p>\n

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