Swim coach Cyndi Gallagher doesn’t need to fly around the world to get top foreign swimmers on her team. In fact, she doesn’t even need to step out of Westwood.
“I’ve always had a lot of international kids and I have never gone out and recruited any of them,” Gallagher said. “They’ve always contacted me.”
One would think that such international depth as a roster that includes two swimmers from Germany, one from Japan and one from Singapore would come from costly and extensive foreign recruiting.
But Gallagher cites UCLA’s worldwide recognition as the magnet that attracts competitive swimmers from all over the world.
“Everybody internationally knows UCLA,” she said.
“It’s very easy and we get a lot of people interested. … Sometimes we get one (swimmer) from (one country) and then another one from the same country, so they kind of recruit each other.”
This was certainly the case for senior Chiemi Yamamoto, who came to Los Angeles from Fukuoka, Japan.
“I decided to come here because one of my teammates back home came to USC and recommended I come here to the U.S.,” Yamamoto said. “I looked at Pac-10 schools and e-mailed the coaches.”
Japanese culture, according to Yamamoto, was not particularly conducive to competitively swimming while being a full-time student, both of which she wanted to participate in equally.
“In Japan, I had to pick between studying or swimming, and I couldn’t do it,” Yamamoto said. “That’s a big reason why I came here.”
This desire to be a well-rounded scholar athlete is one that Gallagher admires and that the other swimmers respect.
“They’re pretty much here just to go to school, get an education and swim,” Gallagher said.
They’re not here for “a social aspect, like the California kids, like, “˜Oh, I want to go this party, I want to go that party.’ … That’s not what they’re here for. … They love being here and it’s never taken for granted.”
Unlike Yamamoto, who came to the United States for the first time as a college freshman, senior Nicolette Teo came from Singapore to live in Orange County as a high school sophomore with the intention of using swimming as a vehicle for an American college education.
Teo began swimming as a 7-year-old, and when her coach retired, she decided it was time to make the move to California, where she could train as much as she liked while still focusing just as much on school.
“It’s hard to focus on studies and a sport in Singapore,” Teo said. “There’s just not a system in place in the society. It’s not that they’re not supportive, it’s just hard to do both.”
Despite what might seem to be vast cultural differences, both Yamamoto and Teo have adjusted well to American culture.
“Here I have lots of teammate friends,” said Yamamoto. “It’s hard to adjust to life here, but now I feel more comfortable.”
“I feel like swimming is a pretty universal language, like music,” Teo said. “Everyone kind of gets it, even if it’s a little different.”