Ben Proud: Conversations With Anthony Ervin Amid Life-Changing Journey In The “Huge, Huge” Waves Of Hawaii

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Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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Ben Proud: Anthony Ervin And His Life-Changing Journey In The “Huge, Huge” Waves Of Hawaii

Ben Proud sits in his room at the Gloria training base in Turkey, reflecting on the “life-changing” time spent in Hawaii with Elliot Ptasnik and Olympic champions Anthony Ervin and Aaron Peirsol.

The 50 free specialist was on the brink of retiring in March 2022 but after resolving to continue, he went on to claim a historic treble of world, Commonwealth and European titles in less than eight busy weeks.

Burnt out after the Europeans in Rome, the 28-year-old spent time away from the water before going on to take silver at the short-course worlds in Melbourne.

At the start of the year, he decided with coach James Gibson that he “could spend some time going off and doing things that I wanted to do.

He returned to Malaysia – where he grew up – to train once more with his first coach, Francis Kiu.

In February he went to Kapolei, Hawaii to join up with Ptasnik, founder and head coach of professional training group Aloha Aquatica, who has worked with Ervin and Andrii Govorov, the 50 fly world-record holder and two-time European champion, among others.

It proved to be transformative for Proud as both man and athlete.

There was a combination of pool and ocean workouts, where he shared the water with whales, turtles and sharks.

He swam into “huge, huge waves,” the sound of the surf with him even now.

Proud told Swimming World:

“It rings in my ears. Where we were was a place called Rockpiles and I was warned that if you go too deep under water there are these huge, sharp rocks sticking up.

“So you have to be in this goldilocks zone where you’re not too deep that you get smashed against the rocks but you’re not too high that you get taken by the wave.

“So you have to dive underwater and then you get swamped by the waves and it goes pitch black.

“But then you hear these little crystals of these shells on the ground and it’s just an amazing feeling, a euphoric feeling, which will stay in my memory forever.”

Rediscovering His Passion & The Aloha In Hawaii

Proud’s odyssey started in Kuala Lumpur, his parents Nick and Sally having moved to the Malaysian capital with older brother Oliver when Ben was five months old.

He was swimming by the age of two and at seven was the youngest on the team at Alice Smith School.

Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: British Swimming

In 2008 he met coach Kiu, reaping the benefits of a 1:1 session when no-one – bar one friend – turned up to a coaching session.

Kiu immediately recognised the teenager’s raw talent and set in motion a journey that has encompassed the top step of every podium bar the Olympics and traversed the continents of Asia, Europe and North America.

Proud has long acknowledged Kiu’s role in his career in teaching him the fundamentals of technique, training and diving.

He moved on to Plymouth College and the guidance of Jon Rudd before joining the Energy Standard team in Gloria under the watchful eye of James Gibson.

Mark Skimming took over the coaching reins at the University of Bath during Covid and pre-Tokyo.

It was to Kiu that Proud turned as he sought to rediscover his love for the water, an ongoing struggle.

He said:

“Swimming is a love-hate relationship. Clearly everyone who has got into it at some point has a love for the water in different ways.

“But then throughout the training cycles, through the work, through different experiences, failures, you have this different relationship with it.

“So for me it was all about trying to overcome the challenges that had come into my career over time and starting to empower the more beautiful parts of it – the love for the water.”

Training with Kiu “was exactly how I hoped it would be” while also he got to spend time with his father.

But there was something missing.

“I had a week at the beach I used to go to hoping for this nostalgic feeling.

“Possibly because I was a bit flat and emotionally drained from the racing it just didn’t hold that same feeling.

“But when I went to Hawaii I really had this feeling of ‘I’m a kid again, I’m enjoying this’.

“I had some experiences which will be in my mind forever, really euphoric feelings in the water surrounded by great people: lifeguards, Aaron Peirsol, Anthony Ervin, Elliot, basically swimming out into the waves in North Shore, Hawaii, through these huge, huge waves.

“It was absolutely terrifying but they were looking after me in just the right way that I could make it through and I really felt I was protected by these guys.

“And even though I was very much a novice in the open water, the sun was setting, North Shore Hawaii, great people around and I think I’ll never forget that evening.”

Sharing Time And Insight With Ervin

Ptasnik and Proud worked on getting a feel for the water, engaging with it and increasing body awareness in the pool at the Kapolei Aquatics Center and the Pacific Ocean.

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Anthony Ervin: Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

They’d build up to 15m sprints in five-metre increments and were joined by Ervin, winner of the 50 free at Sydney 2000 and 16 years later in Rio.

Ervin faced his demons in the years between his two Olympic titles that included drug abuse and a suicide attempt.

Proud has endured his own dark moments, namely following his fifth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

Desolation followed and he almost walked away from the sport before he understood he still had a passion for it.

He realised that if his love for swimming was greater than the hate and the doubts, then he could not only continue but also enjoy success and longevity.

The pair shared many conversations.

Proud continued:

“We didn’t go full depth into things but we opened up and for him it was a time to come to Hawaii and enjoy himself as well.

“It just kind of gives you an outlook when you see someone – one of your heroes – and you realise he’s just another guy. He is very relatable, he’s very understandable, he’s very significant in the way he thinks.

“Everyone’s stories are very different so he had different ways to fix it, to navigate it. To be able to share some conversations and some knowledge with someone who’s been through everything – he has first-hand experience in pretty much everything you can talk about and he articulates it very well.

“I definitely felt as if I was such in a great place after that time with him and that feeling is there and always be.

“As Elliot would say it’s the aloha – it’s always with you.”

Ruing Dressel’s Absence While Embracing Opportunity

Such was the effect on Proud, he extended his trip to four weeks, returning to Europe with a new perspective, following experiences “you really can’t buy.”

He won the 50 free in 21.71 at the world trials in Sheffield and was second in the 50 fly before heading to Gloria where he works with Gibson and strength and conditioning coach Marco Cosso.

Gloria is Proud’s “happy place” where he’s prepared for Fukuoka, 22 years after Ervin won the 50-100 free double in the same pool.

PROUD Benjamin GBR Gold Medal Men's 50m Freestyle Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates 19/12/21 Etihad Arena FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Photo Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Proud was shocked by victory in Budapest last year which came six months after he was crowned world short-course champion.

Add to that his Commonwealth and European golds and by the time the continental meet concluded at the Foro Italico, the Briton had won every title available to him since Tokyo.

Missing from the Marine Messe will be Caeleb Dressel and Bruno Fratus who won gold and bronze respectively in Tokyo.

Dressel bowed out of Budapest mid-competition and spent months away from the pool while Fratus chose to bypass Fukuoka and the Pan-American Games as he continued his recovery from shoulder surgery and instead focus on Paris 2024.

Topping the rankings in 21.27 is Cameron McEvoy, nine years after the Australian took Commonwealth silver behind Proud in Glasgow and five years since bronze at Gold Coast.

Florent Manaudou – three-time Olympic medallist in the one-length dash – has posted 21.56 while Ryan Held has gone 21.50.

Proud though is sorry Dressel will not be there, saying:

“I am. It’s a weird one because if he didn’t race at trials and you didn’t know how his performances would be then all of a sudden everyone would doubt who’s the best in the world because Dressel is the best sprinter our generation has seen.

“It is sad he won’t be there because at a world champs you want the world to be there, you want every performer to be there but at the same time he’s doing his process and he has got probably his own healing process to go through.

“So it changes the dynamics – that’s the best way I can explain it – so now it’s a much younger field.

“There’s going to be less experience through the whole group and it opens doors up for more people and then when those doors are open, who is going to take the opportunities?

“So it makes it quite exciting because there are elements you can enjoy and there’s also that matter that we don’t have Bruno, we don’t have Dressel, would it be different if they were there?

“It’s an answer you’ll never be able to know because unfortunately they won’t be there.

“So I am sad but it’s also an opportunity that you have to accept and embrace.”

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