How Swimming Found Manny Gutierrez
“Swimming found me. I’ve got you. You’re not going anywhere, swimming told me.”
Manny Gutierrez emigrated from Venezuela to give his family a better future. He discovered masters swimming almost by accident. After wandering in to the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex, he quickly made friends and was invited by the coach of Coral Springs Masters to swim with the team.
He has moved past the Johnny Weissmuller freestyle drill and is now competing in freestyle and breaststroke. And he continues to meet friends beyond his own team at meets.
In this episode, he shares the ups and downs of his journey.
A special thanks to Carol Brzozowski, shown below, for connecting me with Manny after I read her article about him in Swimmer magazine.
*The music under Manny’s description of his home town is Alma Llanera By Español:Sistema de Orquestas y Coros juveniles e infantiles del Zulia.Froid International en asociación con Lara-Zulia Films.Hipermedia Comunicaciones y MontyCulebra presentan:FLASHMOB VENEZUELA dirigido por Omar ZambranoProducido por Marielvy D’Apollo ValeroProducción ejecutiva Rubén Cova y Pedro MoyaEdición y montaje Joan Morales sonido Jorge Nava y Juan Nuñez. [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons