ASU senior assistant swim coach Misty Hyman has done a lot of things in her time with the sport: she’s won national titles, won a gold medal in the Olympics, and now she's coaching.
However, she’s never faced off against her alma mater. On Jan. 22, Hyman's team will compete from Stanford's visiting locker room.
"I’m going to have a lot of mixed emotions,” Hyman said. “I’m really excited to go back to the farm, and to see it, and to be at the pool, and to see the coaches and everything, and see a lot of people I know."
Hyman is an Arizona local who decided to go to Stanford to compete in swim and dive. While there, she met the coach that eventually led her to the Olympics and beyond, Richard Quick.
Quick, who died June 10, 2009 to a brain tumor, made a huge impact in her career, and it has stuck with her to this day. Hyman said he was one of two significant coaches in her life.
"Bob Gillett, here in Arizona with the Arizona Fox, really made me the swimmer that I became," she said. "Richard really taught me some things that help me in my college career and really, he was my coach at the Olympics."
After deciding to take a break from competitive swimming in 2005, Hyman moved to Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She said she had the opportunity to attempt a "normal" life without a swimmer's diet and with more free time.
Eventually, she came back to the sport she loves, coaching for her high school alma mater, Shadow Mountain.
Before this season started, head coach Bob Bowman picked her to be an assistant coach for the ASU team, the first time she’s ever been a coach at the college level.
“I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to add Misty Hyman to our staff at Arizona State,” Bowman told Sun Devil Athletics on June 1. “She is an Olympic Champion who is dedicated to sharing her passion for the sport with others. Misty will not only be an excellent coach in terms of technique and training, but will also serve as a tremendous role model for our Sun Devil student-athletes."
Hyman has the wonderful opportunity to be coaching at her home state university and build the athletes of tomorrow.
Over the several months, the athletes have grown a bond with Hyman. Senior Jennifer Morgan says that Hyman has knowledge of the technical aspects and is easy to communicate with. She puts her coach in the highest of regards.
“I think overall she’s definitely the best coach I had,” Morgan said. “(She's) very understanding to what we’re going through because she’s gone through the same things, so I really like working with her."
Although most of Hyman's former coaches from her time at Stanford are gone, the atmosphere surrounding this event is not diminished. The ASU team understands the situation, and will do their best to pull out a win.
"It’s definitely going to be a different experience for her, being on the coaching side rather than the swimming side for her previous school," Morgan said. "I think it’ll be fun, we’re going to put up our best effort against her old team, and it’ll be really fun for all of us.”
ASU only has three more meets before the Pac-12 tournament.
“I remember the first day I walked in through the doors, not as a swimmer but as a coach, and it really gave me the chills to see how things have come full circle," Hyman said. "It’s really an honor and a privilege for me to get to mentor and coach the student athletes at ASU.”
Editor's note: Due a reporting error, Hyman's position on ASU swim was misidentified as the swim and dive assistant coach instead of the senior assistant, and her break from swimming was mislabeled as this year instead of 2005. They have been corrected.
Related Links:
ASU swim and dive: men win, women fall short
ASU men's and women's swim and dive to meet Wyoming
Reach the reporter at osoussi@asu.edu or follow @omarksoussi on Twitter.
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