January 25 Meeting Recap
Speaker David Plummer
Host Scott Gengler
This past Wednesday Wayzata Rotary and guests were treated to a program by David Plummer. David is a bronze 2016 Olympic Medalist, former Wayzata High School swimming coach, and MN State Coach of the Year. David came from a family of four competitive swimming brothers in Norman, Oklahoma. He excelled as a swimmer at the national level during college as a Minnesota Gopher, setting 2 school records and achieving National Collegiate All-American status 14 times there. David joined the world swimming circuit following graduation, achieving many of his goals but failing to qualify for the Olympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Discouraged, David contemplated retirement but decided to take one more shot at qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics as a 30 year old, knowing that he would have to work smarter as an older swimmer to achieve his goal. Beginning in 2012, he reevaluated each part of his training--his diet, his strength training, his pool training, and even his relationships. After working with a sports psychologist he realized that he had spent his life trying to be his best at swimming, at the expense of being his best in other areas. He came to believe he needed to become a better friend, husband, father, coach...and human. He practiced being more supportive to others, looking for ways to offer help, and thinking about others rather than himself. Eventually friends, family and other swimmers began to seek him out for support and counsel. By 2014 he felt like a new person and believed he was ready again for the world stage. Following grueling qualifiers, David edged out his rivals to make the 2016 Rio swim team in the 100M backstroke, eventually going on to win bronze in the individual 100M race and a gold for his role in the 4X100 medley relay. His best memories are of reuniting with his family after his races because it was so important to him to make them feel like their support and sacrifice for him were well placed. Through this journey David came to believe that character building is the finest success possible for an athlete. As a coach, he stresses this above all else and sees character development as one of the primary roles of youth sport. David is currently interning in the athletics office at the University of Minnesota as he contemplates how he can best use his skills to positively influence youth athletes and the sport he loves. Thank you for a fantastic program!