Friends’ Central swimmer Elisabeth Forsyth is Main Line Girls Athlete of the Week
The freshman swimmer finished eighth in both the 500 free and 200 free at Easterns, where she also was part of Friends’ Central’s ninth-place 200 free relay team and 12th place 400 free relay quartet. At the Friends’ Schools League Championships, she won the 200 IM (setting a George School pool record) and 100 back, and was on the winning 200 free relay and 400 free relay teams that both set George School pool records. Friends’ Central head coach Iain Anderson said, “She is diversely talented in the water, shows up first to practice every single day, treats her coaches with the utmost respect and is a supportive teammate.”
Q: What was your most memorable experience at Easterns – can you share it with us?
A: Sitting in the van driving to finals. Sure, the swims and finals were great and amazing, but getting to have all the finals kids crammed in a van and seeing what happened was amazing and extremely amusing.
Q: You mentioned that the 200 free is probably your best event and has been your main focus for several years. What aspect of your swimming have you been working on the most recently?
A: My starts. I’m usually the last one off the block and I don’t really jump out as much as I should.
Q: You are a year-round swimmer at Friends’ Central Aquatics. What do you like best about FCA, and what originally attracted you to FCA? What has been your most memorable experience during your time with FCA?
A: FCA is kinda like a completely chaotic family get-together. It’s the main reason I’m on the team. There are so many other swimmers I consider to my family and it’s great to have that experience. I originally came to FCA cause one of my coaches from Suburban, the team I started on, was here. One of the most memorable experiences on FCA will always be Bridge to Bridge. Every year there’s new jokes and memories made and its always fun to some degree.
Q: What was the key to your recent success at the FSL Championships and Easterns?
A: Just listening to my coaches and working hard throughout the season. There’s no other substitute to training like you should and being aware of what you’re doing. I trusted in the fact that I can swim it in a certain way and still be able to do well.
Q: Can you walk us through a typical day, or cycle, of training?
For the majority of the winter, I would just wake up and go to school. Just a normal day. Then after I would go to the Friends’ Central team practice that was two hours excluding Fridays, where it was 2 1/2 hours. Some days I would double up and return at 7 for an FCA practice to make my quota but that’s about it. On weekends I would go Saturday morning then my private lesson afterwards and Sunday afternoons.
Q: What pool did you first swim for? What is your favorite swimming venue, and why?
A: I first swam for Suburban when I was younger along with a summer team called Hilltop. My favorite venue would have to be the York YMCA. Its a really nice place and the pool is really fast as well.
Q: Who have been your biggest swimming mentors, and what was the most important thing each of them taught you?
A: My dad, Coach Kerry,and my private lesson coach Sean. My dad has taught me how to look at the numbers and know what to and how it all plays out, Kerry taught me how to swim, and Sean is the one who refined my strokes.
Q: Tell us a little about your pre-meet preparation the day of a meet.
A: I make sure I have all my stuff then drive up with my dad and listen to my meet playlist. Nothing special to it.
Q: What is your favorite course at Friends’ Central? Is there a particular career path that interests you at the current time?
A: My favorite course is definitely Latin. It’s super enjoyable and always fun and a challenge. I’d like to go into psychology [as a career].
Q: Do you participate in any other extracurricular activities at Friends’ Central? What sparked your interest in these activities?
A: I’m in a couple of clubs, such as Ink and Science Core Team. I love to write and edit writing, and science is awesome.
Fun facts – Elisabeth Forsyth
Favorite book: War of The Ancients Archive by Richard A. Knaak.
Favorite author: Rick Riordan.
Favorite TV show: Danganronpa.
Favorite pre-meet pump-up song: Hated You from Hello by Downplay.
Favorite color: Sky blue.
Person I most admire: “My father. He’s just like the kind of person I want to be.”
(To be selected as Main Line Girls Athlete of the Week, a student-athlete must first be nominated by her coach.)
