Freshman Victor Brasil is a star swimmer for Linfield’s team. Brasil recently became the first Linfield swimmer to win a conference title since 2009 at the Osborn Aquatic Center and broke NWC and school records at this year’s Northwest Conference Championships. He is from Fortaleza, Brazil, and sat down with me to talk about his time on Linfield’s team as well as his strategies for meets.

Can you tell me a little about your swimming background in Brazil?

I started swimming when I was a kid. In Brazil, you don’t have any student-level swimming. We don’t swim in high school, we don’t swim in college, we just swim in clubs for your whole life.

What has your experience on Linfield’s team been like?

So far it’s really good. The environment of the team is really good. Everybody supports each other all the time, and wants everybody to do their best and make their best time. Even if you don’t make it, they are there to support you. They really accepted me, even though I came in on the ending of the season, so I was a little concerned about that. I feel great swimming there.

What are some of your goals for Nationals?

The first one is make the top eight. I think it’s really fair; I’m really close, and I am ranked eleventh place right now. The distance between us is really close, not even a second. So I think it’s possible. And then, if I make finals, we’re going to see what happens.

What’s your race strategy? How do you get ready for big meets?

There is something that most athletes suffer with, and that is getting nervous. Being a little bit more experienced helped me a lot, so I try to think on what I have to do. What is going to be my strategy in my race, how my start is going to be, and my breakout. And then I try to enjoy the environment, the meet itself. All the moments, the hotel where you are with your teammates, the bus, the meals, everything until I get up behind the block.

What do you like most about Kyle as a coach?

Kyle, he is a really good coach. He makes you feel comfortable and confident about your strokes and about your events. He asked me to drop almost two seconds in two weeks, and I told him, “I’m going to do my best, but you know that you are asking me a lot.” He said, “Yeah I know.” And he said we’re going to do this and this. And then I did it, and I was not expecting that. I think the whole point about him is that he is a really good coach, his practices are really good, and he makes you feel good about swimming.

What sort of food do you eat before a big race?

I’ve got some strategies. The whole time during a meet I try to eat a lot of bananas. All the teammates make fun of me about that [laughs], but it is because I have a lot of cramps, so I need to have a lot of potassium in my blood.

What is your favorite thing about swimming?

Competition. I think I’m a really competitive guy, and I enjoy being tested all the time.