Some Notes and Letters From the Nichols File

Charity and Peter Nichols

Camarillo, Calif.

Dear Mom and Dad,

It is humid here at the Olympic Festival. The new pool, the Palo Alto Natatorium, is cool. The best part is the team concept. The East team has great spirit. We have a lot of cheers. It is amazing. We have three or four meetings a day where we plan what we’re going to do to bring everybody together. Just talking about it gets me pumped up. I had an idea that it would be like this, but this is more than I thought it would be.

You are not going to believe this. A little kid came up to me and asked me for my autograph. I said, “You want my autograph?”

They are taking great care of us. They gave us T-shirts, shorts, pins and bags, and there’s a hospitality room filled with food. We can eat whenever we want.

We went to San Antonio’s Sea World last night. Even though we were fully clothed we went on the water rides. We got soaked! Then, we were drenched by Shamu!

Love,

Sarah

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Gardner Howland

Conejo Simi Aquatics

Dear Coach Howland,

You are doing a great job with Sarah Nichols. This is my second Olympic Festival and I’ve seen a lot of kids not following their coaches’ program. She does it to the letter. That tells you she has the mind-set a distance freestyler needs.

She is a super young lady and she has a tremendous work ethic. She has the discipline and courage to stay in and train when everyone else is getting out of the pool. Such self-discipline obviously makes her a very special athlete. The unique thing is that she still has the confidence to step up and do well here.

Keep up the good work.

Mark Bernardino

East swim team head coach

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Dear Diary,

I can’t believe I’m here! I filled out those forms thinking I would never be picked.

Practices have been a little strange because everyone else is getting out after an hour. I’m going longer to get ready for the 1,500 at nationals next week. They don’t have a 1,500 here. I’m swimming the 800 freestyle (today) and the 400 freestyle on Monday.

Luckily, Charles (Girdlestone) stays in the pool with me. He is training through this meet, too. He is not going to rest until junior nationals next month. I did 7,500 meters in one practice Thursday. Charles and I were the last ones out. The bus left so we had to get a car ride back to the base.

I was a little disappointed Wednesday because we were supposed to have two hours to practice and we only had an hour and a half. I had to cut off a lot of the work Gardner gave me.

It’s nice being around other girls with hairy legs. You don’t feel bad around them. At school, they think, “Oh my God! Hairy legs.” But it’s worth it. You shave it off and it feels so good in the water.

Someone asked me what I think about when I’m swimming lap after lap after lap. I told her that I concentrate on counting the laps.

Sometimes I get a song in my head or a commercial jingle. You hope for a good song, but usually it’s an annoying song and you can only remember a few lyrics over and over again.

Today, a guy hit my lane line and crushed my thumb. It hurt.

My friends don’t understand how I can enjoy being immersed in water all the time. They say: Sound is muffled. Vision is blurred. Communication is nonexistent. The scent of (soda ash) fills your nose. Your fingertips are warped by the water and your hair is always wet.

But I love swimming.

It gives me time to think things through and wonder about them. I used to think of poems but I’d forget them by the time I got out.

People think its boring, but it’s not boring for me. When Gardner gives us distance sets everybody groans and I have this big grin. Everybody thinks I’m crazy.

I guess it’s my personality. I just like being alone, spending a lot of time in my room. Some people hate that, but I enjoy it a lot. I’m not a hermit. I go out. But most of the time I prefer to be by myself. I think I get it from my mom, she’s sort of a loner.

Swimming is easier for me because Mom and Dad don’t push me. They think swimming puts order into my life. It does, but for me swimming comes before school. But I don’t party and I know what’s right from wrong.

When I think about myself outside myself, it is like a Dewar’s Profile:

-- Sarah Nichols, Camarillo, 15 (Sweet 16 on Sunday!)

-- 5-foot-8, 150 pounds.

-- 3.7 grade-point average, Rio Mesa High, class of 1995.

-- Age 9 started swimming at Pleasant Valley.

-- Age 12 joined Conejo Simi Aquatics.

-- Age 14 began twice daily practices and weight training.

-- Age 14 1/2 qualified for junior nationals for the first time.

-- Age 15 won the junior national spring championship in the 500-yard freestyle in 4 minutes 50 seconds and the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:51.71.

-- Competed in the national championships for the first time, placing ninth in the 1,500-meter freestyle (17:05.6), 12th in the 800 freestyle (8:58.0) and 13th in the 400 freestyle (4:24.0).

-- Nickname: Little Machine, so named by Coach Gardner Howland for her ability to swim a series of 100s.

-- Quotable: “I have a feel for time. I can’t explain it.”

-- Genesis: When I was 12 or 13 I decided I wanted to see how fast I could become. When Coach asked me about starting double workouts, I said, “Yeah, right.”

Then I got mono and I couldn’t swim for two months. I wanted to get in so bad I wanted to do doubles. I realized how awful it was without swimming.

-- Standards: I always set really high goals and if I don’t make them I beat myself up. It works for me.

-- Highlight: When I won junior nationals it was so great. Getting the medal on the awards stand was so exciting.

-- Pet Peeves: I see some people with so much talent and they have no work ethic. They don’t care.

Well, Diary, I have to go. It’s time for some Texas barbecue.

Sarah

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Dear Sarah,

You are such a hard worker. I can’t believe the way you dig in on those outrageously long distance sets. Most of us smirk when we’re asked to do a 3,000, followed by a 2,000, followed by a 1,000, but you liked it. You’re never on a downer. You help keep my spirits up.

I’m glad we both made it to the Olympic Festival.

Charles Girdlestone

A fellow Beast From the East