Thursday, May 14, 2020

Duck Diving

"Olympic hopeful and USA Swimming National Team member Phoebe Bacon (FRONT) trains with her brother Finn Bacon amid the coronavirus pandemic at a family friend's covered, 15-meter pool on April 28, 2020 in Potomac, Maryland. Phoebe Bacon, a high school senior and PanAmerican gold medalist, qualified for the U.S. Olympic swimming trials and is using the small-sized pool to continue to train in the water after COVID-19 closed pools. The U.S. trials and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed due the coronavirus, but that hasn't deterred athletes like Bacon from finding non-traditional ways of training."

Athletes and sport photographers alike don't like being in the current situation. But are certainly understanding of the pandemic as we all adapt to this abrupt change.

Because it's something no one could have ever predicted - as evidence of canceled and postponed events - athletes across the globe are now training in isolation under strict policies in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

That is the case with Olympic hopeful and USA Swimming National Team member Phoebe Bacon.

Instead of training and preparing for the U.S. trials and Tokyo Olympics, she found herself training in a family friend's recreational 15-meter pool - rubber duck thermometers and all.

As comparison, 50-meter is the Olympic size and a 25-meter pool is something one might find at their gym.

It has been amazing to see, and visually document, the changes athletes are willing and needing to take to still train.

When it's safe to return to the competition fields, pools and other venues worldwide, everyone involved will have a new respect for sport as they look back at their historically different training routines and environments.