The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Senior Leah Gingrich Q&A
02.09.2012 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 9, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas -- TexasSports.com sat down with senior swimmer Leah Gingrich to discuss how she started swimming, and how her family choses family vacation destinations.
How did you get into swimming? I started swimming pretty much when I was born. My grandma had a pool in her backyard, so we'd always be over there swimming and playing around. When I was four years old, my parents put me on the mini team. I just tried out every sport and then I really stuck to swimming.
What is your overall goal for this season? Personally, I want to get personal best times at the end of the year. Our team goal is, obviously, to win Big 12s and then to place top four at NCAA's.
What comes after Texas for you? I graduated in December, so I have another semester after this. I'm going to move back to Pennsylvania and do my student teaching in the spring. I ultimately want to be a kindergarten teacher after that.
What might surprise us about the butterfly events? There are two kicks in the stroke. Even though I've been swimming for years now, I sometimes forget, so I get a little yell every once in a while about it. You really have to work on both kicks. People just want to pull instead of using their legs. I always think 200 butterfly is one of the easier races because sometimes you can get in that good rhythm and its easier than trying to get a really fast tempo in backstroke or freestyle. I like it a lot.
What do you do best in the butterfly? I've started really focusing on just doing four underwater kicks off each wall and I think they've gotten stronger throughout the years. Also, I have good body flow and really use my chest and everything to get myself going forward.
What is your pre-competition ritual? I tend to do the same things before a meet like hanging out with the team. I'll do pretty much the same warm-up or a slight variation. I listen to music and then, just behind the blocks, I have a really weird fear that my goggles are going to come off even though I've dove in the pool thousands of times and it's never happened. So, I always push on my goggles. My parents make fun of me for it all the time. That's something that I do every single time.
Do you get nervous before competing? Does it depend on the race? It depends on the race and the situation and the meet that we're at. There are times that I do get nervous and times that I don't. The times that I do get nervous, you can tell. My parents can tell by how serious I am behind the blocks. If I'm not smiling or I'm just kind of staring and not focused in a positive way, they can tell I'm nervous. I try not to get that way, especially at NCAA's, which is where it usually comes into play.
What is the most fun you've had with the swim team this season? I always have a lot of fun when we go to Camp Longhorn. All the dual meets are a lot of fun, especially the one against A&M. I have a feeling Big 12's are going to be really exciting this year and probably one of my better memories because it's going to be the last "big" Big 12s that we're going to have [since A&M is leaving the conference].
If you weren't a swimmer, what sport would you play? I think I would want to be a dancer. I just like to dance and I've always wanted to take hip hop classes and stuff like that. I like every sport. I did soccer, softball and basketball growing up. I liked them all.
What's your favorite restaurant in Austin? What do you order? Santa Rita. Usually, I get the burrito. I really like the Mexican food down here. We don't have very good Mexican food in Pennsylvania.
What is your favorite childhood game? We always played kickball in my backyard, just with family members. I always had fun with that because I have an older brother and we played a lot of sports in our backyard.
If you could travel anywhere, where would it be? We're taking a family vacation next summer and we all get to pick one place we want to go and we're going to pull it out of a hat. I think I'm going to pick Atlantis. I really want to go to that resort. It's in the Bahamas. I looked at pictures and I've been researching it. My parents said once I graduate we're going to go on a nice vacation. I'm a little worried about what my brother is going to pick, though. I'm nervous about the other three choices in the hat that aren't mine.
