Press
1500th Athlete Hopes to Make a Splash in First Meet
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
By Katrina Robinson
The 2007 Utah Summer Games welcomes Richard Mildenhall as a first-time competitor in this year's swimming competition.
"This will be the first swimming competition I have ever entered," Mildenhall said, "The [Utah Summer] Games inspired me to try something new."
Mildenhall entered the Games for the first time in 2006 to run in the 5K competition with his son and then this year decided to take up swimming at the age of 43.
"I had a couple of 'aha' experiences over this past summer that broadened my interests," Mildenhall said. After he competed in the 5K run with his son, he began to look at other options for competition. "It was a great experience, so I began to consider the possibility of entering other events,"
Mildenhall had never trained in any particular sport before. Overcoming the fear of not measuring up was his main issue.
"I have had this mindset most of my life that I couldn't be an athletic contender," Mildenhall said. However, the beginning swimmer had an experience which truly inspired him and gave him the desire to compete and achieve his very best.
"Later in the summer, I observed a swimming event at the [Huntsman] World Senior Games and that is when it clicked." Mildenhall explained how he now realized he could "compete" against himself rather than worry about being the best in a specific group.
"One of the swimmers could only use one arm effectively and predictably came in last." Mildenhall thought it was great that the crowd was really impressed by the swimmer's perseverance.
After Mildenhall's experience, he said, "The Games no longer seemed so intimidating to me. Some people compete to try to be first, but many others compete for the fun of it or to improve on a personal record. I just decided I could do that."
Mildenhall will enter his first swimming competition at the age of 44 this year and seems very optimistic about the upcoming experience.
"I'm just looking to create some baseline numbers so that I can chart my progress over future years at the Games," Mildenhall said.
"Seeing that there is much more to the Games than competing against the other guy has really opened up my mind and given me a sense of confidence that I didn’t have before," he concluded.
Mildenhall hopes to continue competing in the Utah Summer Games for as long as he can.
The Utah Summer Games will be held June 7 - 24, 2007. Opening Ceremonies will be held on June 14, 2007 at 8:30 PM in the Eccles Coliseum.
Labels: Athletes
