Wednesday, Jul. 09, 2008
3-year quest ends 2 seconds short of goal
By Melissa Winn
mwinn@star-telegram.com
One 1,000, two 1,000.
That’s all the time it took for Weatherford’s Steve Wood to miss making the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Neb.
"I missed it by 2 seconds," Wood said. "You sit and watch [the clock] go tick, tick. It’s frustrating."
Wood, a U.S. Masters Swimming member for the past seven years, decided he wanted to try and qualify for the Olympics this fall in Beijing so he began training for it about three years ago.
But in order to make the team, he had to first qualify for the trials by beating a time in the 100-meter backstroke of just under 58 seconds.
Unfortunately for Wood, that didn’t happen as he swam a 1:00:23 in the last meet in Austin before the trials.
"The cutoff to make the qualifying time was [June 16]," he said. "That’s beyond my ability to do so now."
Wood has been swimming since he was 9-years-old. He swam through his eligibility in college but stopped when he graduated in 1982.
"I was a bit dissatisfied with the world of swimming so I took a 19-year hiatus," he said. "Back then there was no professional swimming like there is now. It used to be when you hit 22, your career was over."
Wood got back in the water competitively about seven years ago. He said it was a bit of a shock to him as things had changed since his college experience.
"It’s like being in a big time warp; the rules have changed, there’s a new lingo and it’s very different," he admitted. "The athletes haven’t changed so much but the sport has."
The 48-year-old orthodontist confided that when he first started to swim again, he "couldn’t even finish a practice." But, that changed after he joined a group called the Fort Worth Area Swim Team (FAST) about three years ago.
"When I started swimming on the age-group side, it was real interesting in that I felt very much out of place," he said. "One of my first meets, I kind-of went and hid in the corner between events because there I was with all these teenagers."
As he got more comfortable, Wood approached one of the FAST coaches, Ron Forrest, and told him of his goal to qualify for the trials.
Originally, Wood said he was training to compete in four events — the 100 butterfly, the 50 and 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. Eventually, he and Forrest would narrow it down to Wood’s favorite, the 100 backstroke. This, Wood said, made it easier for him to concentrate.
"I was looking at [all four events], which are very much different events," Wood said. "But as we narrowed it down, I could focus on that one particular stroke and work on training for starts, finishes and things like that."
But things weren’t exactly easy for Wood. Because Weatherford lacked a facility for him to train at, Wood had to travel to Fort Worth every day to practice from 6:30 – 8:30 a.m.
"Unfortunately, there’s nothing here year-round [and] definitely nothing of [Fort Worth’s] caliber, yet," he said. "I emphasize yet because hopefully someday there will be that caliber of training year-round."
Wood said he believes Weatherford residents are interested in having a facility, it’s just a matter of getting people to understand how much.
"The interest is there, it’s just not the majority. It’s come before election twice and twice it’s been voted down," he said. "A lot of people don’t want to bear the burden of the cost, which there’s nothing wrong with that, but eventually the demand, the people for it, will become the majority."
Wood trained about 15 to 17 hours a week in the water and an additional four hours on land. He said between that and working full-time at his office in Weatherford, it has been a sacrifice for him and his family. He also said it took the support of "a lot of friends" as well as his staff and patients. He added that his coaches and his sports therapist at Fort Worth’s Southwest Sports Massage played a major role.
"He’s kept me together," Wood said of Steve Looney. "My swimming coaches would break me down and he’d put me back together."
Though he fell short of his ultimate goal, Wood said he’s gained a lot from his experience.
"On the Masters side, I’m setting all kind of age-group world records from a respective age group," he said. "With the times I did down in Austin a couple of weeks ago, I actually surpassed some of the younger age group’s world records. Along with that comes national records; we did a little bit of research and found out that for 40 and over, I’m the fastest backstroker that’s ever been."
Wood admits his mental attitude has changed since he was in college and that had he been only a couple of seconds off his goal time then, he may not have the perspective he does now.
"I’m pleased but not completely satisfied. If I missed it by 1/100th of a second, I’m still happy," he said. "Considering my age and that I have a business to run, I look back and did the best I could."
Wood said he hasn’t decided if he’ll try for the 2012 Olympics but said others who may want to try something like him shouldn’t let age be a factor. He insisted, however, that it can’t be done alone.
"Set up a goal and a support team," he said. "You can’t do it by yourself because at those times when you’re all beat up and tired, you need [the support of loved ones]. I could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, teammates, trainers and coaches."
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