Ellie Eshleman has been swimming since age five. She began swimming at such a young age because her mother wanted her out of the house.
Her mother forced her to go out and do something and Eshleman swam with it. She loved swimming then and she loves it now. Coming all the way from Illinois, Eshleman loves Tampa because of its sunny days and great opportunities to swim outside, which she prefers over indoors.
Eshleman has bad joints and was forced to sit out the pervious two years of her college career.
“[Ellie] trains as hard as anyone, and won’t slack off or back down,” Ed Brennan, swim coach said. “She won’t tell you if she’s hurting.”
The young swimmer trains about three hours a day and stretches daily to work out those battered joints.
Eshleman does not swim for the fame, she does not swim for the glory; she swims because she loves to swim.
She realizes that with her joints so fragile, her chances of an Olympic gold medal one day are slim. That doesn’t stop her from having fun, training hard, doing all she can to win and leading all of her fellow women swimmers in the lane.
Eshleman did not take credit for what she had accomplished last match, leading the team to victory. When asked how it felt to lead the team to victory she said, “We all have to lead each other.”
Clearly Eshleman is a team-oriented swimmer. Much like Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, Eshleman listens to rapper Lil Wayne before swimming to get her hyped and focused for her matches.
She is very personal and excited and about this year’s team.
“We definitely have top ten potential,” said Brennan.
He stressed the importance of keeping everyone healthy, including Eshleman.
Eshleman just wants to do the best that she can and have fun, and if she keeps performing like she did last match, she is accomplishing both.