American professional swimmer Ryan Hoffer chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about joining the DC Trident swimming team in the upcoming third season of the International Swimming League (ISL) as their “rookie pick.”
He is very excited to join the DC Trident team with Olympian Kaitlin Sandeno serving as the General Manager. “The DC Trident is an amazing team with amazing staff. I love Kaitlin,” he said.
Hoffer swims at the University of California, Berkeley under Coach David Durden (who is also the Head Coach for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Swimming Team). “David is a legend,” he said. “I will continue to train with me for as long as I can. He knows me and I know him well. We are comfortable with each other and I think he is one of the smartest guys around.”
On his daily motivations, he said, “I am motivated by a lot of things. I started swimming when I was super young at the age of six. My parents were both swimmers and I picked up swimming from the get-go. I loved it and I have a talent for it. I really love competing, racing, and obviously, I love winning. I like the grind and the journey that I am on in terms of training and how I can get better. I love that process and I understand that process. I am learning new things all the time.”
“One of the main reasons I went to Cal Berkeley is because I was a big fan of Nathan Adrian. I have been training with him all the way up to the Olympic Trials. Nathan is a great guy so watching him train every day has been great, I learned a lot from him,” he said, prior to complimenting Olympic swimmers Tom Shields and Ryan Murphy.
He listed freestyle and butterfly as his personal favorite strokes in the sport. “It’s a tossup between freestyle and butterfly,” he admitted. “My favorite event is the 50 meter freestyle, it’s a lot of fun.”
Regarding the title of the current chapter of his life, he said, “Big Change.”
Hoffer defined the word success as follows: “There are a lot of ways to earn success and it needs to be in your eyes. For me, I have a good home, good friends, and my family. I am succeeding well in the water and my body is trained. I am doing all I can to better myself.”
For his fans and supporters, he said, “I am so grateful. My biggest fans are my parents who have been with me from the start and they drove me to practice. They love the fact that I went pro and that I am doing the ISL with DC Trident. I am just thankful for everything.”
To learn more about professional swimmer Ryan Hoffer, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
