Confessions of a Teen Swimmer: Pan Pacs Shined as Fan Pacs for an Incredible Experience
By Leah de la Harpe
This weekend I went to Pan Pacs, but I really want to call it “Fan-Pacs” because of the amazing energy from the crowd and the overall experience of the international meet.
My name is Leah. I am a 14-year-old-swimmer from Bend, Oregon.
I came to Pan Pacs to cheer on my old club teammate, Campbell McKean. I came with my mum and my coach.
The athletes definitely DID NOT disappoint their fans and family in the stands. The energy from the athletes and the crowd was off the charts. Especially behind the block for all the 50s.
I got a rare opportunity to sit right underneath the Jumbotron, and I got to hype up and high five athletes such as McKenzie Siroky and Skyler Smith before their 50s, which was an amazing opportunity.
All the athletes were especially nice when it came to autographs and pictures. What I thought was cool about watching the swimmers is that they were exactly like me. I can get there if I work hard and believe in myself.
The athletes had pretty good technique, some had better underwaters than others, some didn’t swim their underwaters to the flag, and the race was exciting when it came down to who got to the wall first.
Look at Shaine Casas and Dare Rose. Their swimoff (in the 100 butterfly) was a difference of 0.01.
But the very best part of my trip started with an autograph from Michael Phelps. I was just going to the bathroom and there he was. I got a selfie and my knees were shaking when I ran back to my mom.
Then I happened to run into Katie Ledecky when I was getting food. Now I was on a mission. I decided to get as many selfies as I could.
I decided that waiting at the buses was a good spot. I will remember because of how long I would wait to even see the Pan Pacs athletes. I was so excited when someone would yell, ‘bus!’ And everyone came running to get signatures. Some of my favorites signatures that I got were:
Kate Douglass: Right after she got her first world record of the day.
Gretchen Walsh: So tall and I was glad to get her, because my first attempt, two ladies pushed me out of the way.
Dean Boxall: He had no idea I knew his name, but when I asked him for an autograph he said, “Me? I am just a coach.” He did not disappoint. His hair was crazy and he had lost his voice from cheering so loud. He even came up to my car later when my mom came to pick me up.
Jack Alexy: That was for my mom. I was so embarrassed because she made a poster: “Swim Mom Crush on Jack Alexy.” She ended up on TV and his parents took a picture of her sign. My mum was so happy when I introduced Jack to her, because I knew how much my mom wanted it.
Jillian Cox: She was so nice and gave me her cap. It was the same cap she wore for her race.
Campbell McKean: He is my old teammate. He’s a breaststroker. I raced him in the butterfly last year, but he won.
Summer McIntosh: She is even prettier in person. Her mum and sister sat in front of us in the stands.
Becca Mann: I saw her right after her 800. I like her because she does open water like me. Her coach got off the bus to tell her to hurry up. Because everyone wanted a picture. Lucky I got one.
Skyler Smith: So cool to meet her. She won bronze (in the) 50 breast and Pan Pacs was her very first international event.
The Torpedo (Ian Thorpe): I had to sneak into the VIP area to get his photo. I didn’t tell a little white lie, I promise.
Van Mathias: He was the star of “Van PACs.” I wore a mustache with his family to cheer him on. Everyone loved him.
Torri Huske: How lucky was I? Torri’s parents stood in line in front of us and asked us to keep their place. USA swim parents had to line up and sit on the bleachers just like us. And the bleachers were packed full of fans.
Patrick Sammon: He was fun because his mom and aunt sat near us and they were so excited and my mum said they had the same nervous energy as she does when I race. It made my mom feel normal.
Michael Andrew: His parents are South African. And he was there with his mum, dad and new wife. They said they had the South African flag in their living room.
There were so many more athletes, everyone was so nice to the fans even though they had to hurry to get on their bus.
It was also an amazing experience to see how the other cultures competed, like how the Japanese would bow when they came out to the blocks and say cute things with the interpreter when they win: “I have never swam outdoors in the dark … I have won two times, I am happy.”
One thing that made my trip was being able to cheer for South African athletes because my dad is from the Eastern Cape. I got photos with most of the South African team. The photos were very important to me because my family is South African and they were so excited to see the pictures I was sending them of their team.
When I was standing by the athlete entrance, I had my South African flag ready and asked all the South African athletes if I had a pretty lekker (means cool or sick in Afrikaans) flag. They all smiled and laughed. They said they had been watching me cheer for them in the stands with the flag and they said it was awesome. I also asked them how long it has been since they have had a good Braai (South African bbq). They said not since they left and it’s definitely the first thing they are doing when they get back.
At the Pan Pacs athlete entrance, a guy had a sign that said “smile if you peed in the pool.” All the athletes laughed and smiled, then took pictures of the sign.
Up in the stands was a whole experience in itself. One guy would yell “USA 1-2-3″ and everyone would yell, USA. which gave inspiration to other countries to cheer, too. Such as China, Canada and the Aussies yelling “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, OI, OI, OI.” This was an amazing experience for me.
The most fun part of my trip was definitely seeing the athletes, watching Kate Douglass beat her own world record two times in the same day and spending time with my mum and my coach.
The “Fan Pacs” was definitely an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait until my next international swim event. Maybe I’ll be lucky and get to go to the Olympics and cheer on Team USA and South Africa again.
