TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

5 Questions With Gregg Cooke

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 12, 2007

Gregg Cooke and the Sickles swim team finished second at the City Relays last weekend. Cooke is one of the area's best sprinters.

Given you're coming off district championships last year, do you feel like you swim with a bull's-eye on your back?

No, I don't think there's much pressure to perform. I just go out there and have fun. If you put too much pressure on yourself, you don't perform well. At least I don't.

You lost at regionals by a pretty slim margin. How much do you think about that now?

When you lose that closely, you think to yourself, 'Gosh, if I had just done this or that.' I was fortunate that I had an opportunity to redeem myself at state, or even come back the next year and improve.

You also play baseball for Sickles. Does your swimming workout help you with baseball?

Of course it helps. Because this is Florida, you can play baseball year-round. So when I swim for those four or five months, I dial down the baseball. Aside from the fun and the competition of swimming, it's great for developing upper-body strength and cardio.

Sickles appears to have one of the area's best relay combinations right now. How has that come together?

We've been swimming together for the past three years at Sickles. That's a pretty good amount of time to be swimming together.

Does all of that time swimming together help? Athletes in other sports say the longer you practice and play together, the easier it becomes to perform.

I think in swimming you can see certain things as you swim with the same people - who starts well, who finishes well, who hits the wall well, who can make up ground. As we've swam together, we've learned that about one another.

Matthew Postins

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT