Among breaststrokers, nobody does it better than Etter
Physically-gifted UCLA freshman sets the team’s best in 100, 200
breast
By Ross Bersot
When she read "The Frog Prince" as a little girl, she didn’t
quite get the gist. Instead of kissing the frog and turning him
into a handsome prince, she turned into the frog, or at least stole
his legs. A freshman member of the UCLA swim team, Lindsay Etter
has risen to the top of the ranks in the breaststroke through
discipline and a long, powerful set of legs.
"Physically and genetically she’s a major talent," UCLA
assistant coach Brad Burnham said. "She has rubber legs. Her feet
reach way out to the sides to grab on to the water, which allows
her to be more horizontal than most breaststrokers when she goes to
kick. She’s been blessed with knees and hips that work that
way."
"You’re either a breaststroker or you’re not," said UCLA head
coach Cyndi Gallagher. "Because of the flexibility in the knees and
hips and everything else."
UCLA coaches were not the first people to recognize her unique
gift. When she began learning to swim, Etter’s instructor realized
her potential.
"I was in swim lessons when I was 6 and my teacher said, ‘Well,
we’re going to do a frog kick on our back.’ And he sent me off
across the pool and I just went and he said, ‘She’s like a frog!’
And he said, ‘Well, she’s going to be a breaststroker,’" Etter
said. "It’s the only thing that I can really do. I’m not
comfortable on my back and I can’t really do freestyle very well so
I do breaststroke. It’s the only thing left."
Etter’s physical talent is not the only thing that separates her
from other collegiate swimmers. She did not begin training
year-round until after her sophomore year of high school when her
family moved from the Bay Area to Spring, Texas. Most athletes who
make it to the collegiate level have been in the water full-time
for five to 10 years or more.
Starting at 7, Etter participated on a part-time basis as part
of a recreational summer league in Pinole Valley. Even with this
limited experience, she raced to All-American status in the 100
breast during her first year of competition at Pinole Valley High
School.
Her family then made the move to Texas and Etter acted on her
father’s suggestion to try swimming full-time.
Etter joined a club team called The Woodlands and began working
out twice a day, every day, a big change from her previous
schedule.
"It was kind of a big transition," Etter said. "It took a little
adjusting, but I liked it because I started getting better. It’s
fun when you’re doing well."
It was as a member of The Woodlands, when Etter won the 100
breast in the Short and Long Course Junior Nationals, in her first
attempt  a rarely accomplished feat because of the unusually
large scale of the event.
"She hadn’t been in the sport that long," Gallagher said. "I
think she just started doing doubles (two workouts a day) for a
year and all of a sudden, in her first big meet, she won. It was
her first junior nationals and she won and that’s pretty amazing to
do that."
After enduring a slump in her senior year, she arrived at UCLA
with the desire to get faster.
"I was looking at UCLA as fresh hope, something to maybe get me
going again, and it has," Etter said. "It’s surprising, I didn’t
think I’d do this well."
All Etter has done is race to team-bests in the 100 breast and
the 200 breast. She blazed through last weekend’s Pacific-10
Conference Championships, setting season-bests in those events with
times of 1:03.12 and 2:16.05.
Success as a freshman has not come because of personal
expectations or coaches’ goals or an aggressive nature. In fact,
Etter’s coaches say she could win more if she wasn’t so nice.
"She’s nice and friendly and I’m like, ‘No, you can’t be nice.
You have to stand up there and be their friend after you finish
swimming,’" said Gallagher.
"(The coaches) get mad at me because I’m not very aggressive,"
Etter said. "I’m not intimidating no matter how hard I try so I
just gave up on that at Pac-10s, I think. I just felt, ‘Well, I’m
obviously not big enough to intimidate anybody. I’m not mean enough
to intimidate anybody so I’ll just get in the water and then they
can’t see me.’ I smiled and I waved up at my parents and I probably
freaked Brad and Cyndi out, but I was having a good time."
Etter attributes her achievements to nothing other than enjoying
being a part of the team.
"College swimming is so much different," Etter said. "It’s
team-oriented and its more exciting. Everyone is working together.
The team is so much fun. When we go to meets, like Pac-10s or we
swim USC you can just tell which team has the best unity. We’re the
first ones to cheer, the last ones to cheer and we cheer all in
between.
"There’s a lot of team momentum and that makes you swim a lot
faster. You know every time you dive in you’ve got 22 other people
who want you to do well and are almost swimming the same race with
you. I’m lucky to be swimming with them."
Just as lucky as they are to be swimming with her.