A Touch of Gold

I would like to share a story from the Long Beach Press-Telegram. This story happens to be about Michael Phelps and a young swimmer from Long Beach, CA, but also speaks to the power that we all carry. Well-placed words of encouragement can change lives...

A Touch of Gold

By David Loveless
Special to the Press Telegram
Article Launched: 08/21/2008 11:05:26 PM PDT


(Editor's Note: Reader and father David Loveless sent in this article he wrote about his daughter and Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps, to show another side of the champion.)

I want to share the power and influence that a few spoken words by the world's greatest athlete had on my daughter, Alexandria Loveless.

Four years ago, Long Beach hosted the U.S. Olympic Swim Team trials. It was Ally's fourth- to fifth-grade summer. I had told her that I wouldn't let her join a seriously competitive club or team until she was in middle school because I didn't want her to burn out on a sport as I had seen with many other children when they reach high school.

From second to sixth grade, she participated in almost every type of sport through the wonderful Long Beach Parks and Recreation department.

On one of the days while the 2004 Olympic Swim Trials were being held, Ally went with friends to the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool for open recreational swim. When I picked her up that afternoon, she excitedly exclaimed that she had met Michael Phelps and that he had been at the pool working out. I asked her if she was sure it was Michael, and she said she was positive.

She added that she didn't know why she had her camera with her that day, but she did and she had a friend take her photo with him. Every year since then, she has kept this treasured photo in her school binder.

I said, "I hope you didn't interrupt him," to which she replied, "No, Daddy, he came up and talked to me!"

OK, it didn't really seem possible that this great swimmer would approach my little daughter and me being a protective father, I wanted to know exactly what had happened.

She explained that she could see Michael watching her swim laps as he rested between sets in his workout. When she got out of the pool, he walked over to her and said that he had been watching her and that she has a "very powerful stroke" and that if she works hard that "maybe someday she could become an Olympian."

Imagine the world's greatest athlete taking the time to encourage an 11-year-old girl that was only swimming recreationally.

Of course, Ally said she had to ask him if she could take a picture with him. What else is a girl to do?

He helped create a dream for Ally with a few spoken words and a moment of his valuable time. Maybe that is why to this day that I have never had to remind her about her water polo practice schedule. This summer, she practiced as much as 8 to 9 hours a day while she participated on four different teams and trained in Europe for 3 weeks with USC Head Coach Jovan Vavic's Trojan WPC for the Junior Olympics.

Now that Ally, who just turned 14, will become a freshman at Wilson High School, she likes to tease one of her coaches at LB Shore Aquatics - Robert Lynn, Assistant Coach, USA Men's Water Polo - by saying she will break all of his Wilson High swim records. Robert just smiles and says that she'd better plan on working hard. She smiles back and states that she's already had someone tell her to "work hard."

Michael Phelps is not only going to grow the sport of competitive swimming, he will provide inspiration and hope to other athletes as well - like my daughter.

And he doesn't do it for himself, he does it for them. That's another reason why he is the world's greatest athlete.

I hope he knows the powerful effect his words have and how much it is appreciated. Kind, encouraging words matter!