ODUSports.com recently did a Q&A with sophomore swimmer, Jacob Zeidler.
So why did you choose Old Dominion coming from Sweden?
I two had friends who went here before from my country in Sweden and they both spoke very well about ODU
How long have you been swimming?
I guess all my life. Most people seem to start off swimming as babies and continue.
Have you always been at the breaststroke or did you do freestyle?
Basically I have always been in the breaststroke and freestyle. Sometimes I do IM, but right now I am better at free and breast.
What has been the most difficult thing about swimming on a college team as opposed to I guess like high school?
I mean its more mandatory practices. That is also good because you don’t have a choice like I got to do this because I have a responsibility because I am on this team. It is so nice to swim with everyone else, like on a real team, because back home I swam by myself and that didn’t go so well. It hard to swim by yourself, you have to really be mentally strong. Here, there are always people helping you out and if you ever need help, like it is so much fun to swim in college compared to club team.
When you came last year as a freshman, what was the reception from your teammates like?
Yeah, definitely. I mean were international people, we are always helping out and we like everyone. Everyone leaves something behind when we come here, so its like everyone starts a new family, so that is nice.
With a lot of the swimmers and divers being from different countries does that create a communication barrier?
No, no barrier. It’s like it is more fun because you get to experience how life is like for them and the differences and it is cool.
What was it like growing up in Barseback, Sweden?
Well it is a little village outside of the city so it is quiet. I basically slept there because I had trainings and where else, and I had school a half an hour away. So it was a lot of commuting and here I am right outside campus and it is so much closer. I guess I don’t use a lot of time for commuting, so it’s very nice.
How do you keep your body from giving out on you?
Always have energy in your body. Even if it is not the best energy, always have some kind of energy because swimming is a sport where you burn a lot of energy because you use the whole body and we swim from let’s say, four hours or two hours per day, so it is good to have energy.
Is it difficult being so far away from family? Like being what, a t10 hour flight back home?
Yeah I mean, to a start it was difficult but after a while you get used to it and you build your own family here like I said before. So you always have someone helping you out, so it’s great.
Who was the one that pushed you the most growing up?
I guess my coach and my parents have always been very supportive with what I want to do. I want to swim but before I was taking it easy, I did not want to get like too much power in it. My coach said you have talent, you should go more and more and more and I guess that’s how…
Are you and your sister pretty close?
We are very close yeah. We are both doing aiming high in our sports and we are the same age, we are twins, so we are like in the same state of mind. It is nice.
What has been your most memorable race. 200 Medley, 400 Freestyle?
I don’t know. I never had a perfect race really. I have had a good race but never it perfect, so that is something I wanted to experience but memorable I guess, the ECU relay, two ECU relays. One relay at home the meet where we won the four times [*?] and the conference we lost with like a tenth or a hundredth a second something, it was so close, and that would like change the whole standings. If we won that relay, we would have won over ECU at the conference. If we came 2nd we would have lost against them so that was like, that is why it was so close and so fast, and yeah, it was pretty cool.
What about meet days do you like the most? Just getting the pool and competing other swimmers? What do you do to get in the zone for your particular race?
I guess visualize and I think through what I am supposed to do and how I want to do it. I have my pre-rituals, you know, music I want to listen to. There is different ways, and it is important to like balance, not to get too pumped and not to get too little pumped.
Who might we find on your pre-race or pre-event mix?
Probably some sweet techno.
After a race is done does the rest of the team watch each event or are they getting in the zone for their own?
No. Everyone cheers and watches everyone’s events. It is so nice to be on a real team. Back home, you only had to focus on yours. Here, everyone like loves to see each other, its fun to be here. Our meets are very fun because we are like sharing and it is crazy in there.