NEW FEATURE!!! The SwimLight – Getting to Know Grant House (Video)
In the realm of competitive swimming, Grant House was a dominant force and standout athlete on the Arizona State University men’s swim team. With numerous individual and relay event wins in the Pac-12 Championships, international representation for Team USA, and playing a vital role in the Sun Devils’ notable NCAA second-place finish, it is no doubt that he is a true powerhouse in the water. House’s achievements are attributed to his passion and dedication to the sport of swimming, but there is more to the swimmer than just his aquatic accomplishments.
House’s destiny as a swimmer was almost preordained, as he comes from a family with deep ties to the sport. Surrounded by the influence of his siblings who were swimmers and parents who were coaches, House found motivation to embrace the pool as his domain. With their support, he embarked on a journey that surpassed anything his family had witnessed before.
“My family comes from a huge background of swimming. My mom is one of nine and eight of them swam. My dad swam as well growing up and he went to East Kentucky University to swim after West Point. Both my siblings swam, and they’re pretty significantly older than me. They were like the biggest influences I had. My parents were both coaches for over 30 years,” said House. “That’s kinda how I gravitated into the sport.
“It’s cool to see everyone’s support and how our lives connect right now through me pursuing goals and aspirations to the farthest that anyone in my family’s lineage has been able to in swimming. I’ve definitely been the person to excel the most in swimming,” House said.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
House’s exceptional swimming talents played a crucial role in ASU’s triumphant second-place NCAA finish, which was his favorite memory from his collegiate swimming days. He had a clear vision for the team’s future and shared it with Coach Bob Bowman and ASU’s Athletic Director Ray Anderson. His passion continues to leave a lasting impact on the program, and his legacy continues to inspire young athletes.
“My favorite moment would probably be the second place finish at NCAAs. I was honestly more proud of the guys at the end of the season and culminating at the biggest stage for NCAAs with the, the second place finish,” said House. “When I came in, the first conversation I ever had was actually with Coach Bowman and our athletic director Ray Anderson. I pretty much shared this vision that I really wanted to come here and just create something amazing and something that other kids and other young athletes will look at and want to be a part of.”
House’s advice to his younger self in swimming is simple: relax, enjoy the moment, and have fun with your teammates. Through his international and NCAA experiences, he has learned that finding joy in competing leads to greater success in his races. Embracing the experience and letting his love for swimming guide his racing will bring him the best results.
“I would definitely say to relax and enjoy the trips that you’re on and enjoy the people you’re around more. I tend to swim a lot better when I’m more relaxed and enjoying my surroundings or where I’m at,” said House. “Whenever I go to a meet around the country, I would just say to enjoy the moment more, and kind of stress less about performance. For me, it definitely shows when I’m more relaxed because the performance takes care of itself as a byproduct.”
House’s favorite thing about swimming is the excitement of racing and competition. Embracing the moment and pushing himself to his limits is what motivates him to do his best in his individual races and relays.
“It has to be the racing. I love the competitiveness and the racing, especially since my senior year of high school. That was really something that I feel like was my guiding principle,” said House. “It really always was being in the moment, having those nerves, having those emotions, having the excitement of a relay or an individual swim. Leading into the preparation, like all the culminating factors that go around a competition and it just boiled down to racing, just racing, seeing how good you could be on that day.”
Currently, House is taking a short break from swimming before starting to prepare for the Olympic Trials next year. He is going to be training with ASU Coach Herbie Behm and is eager to work with Keenan Robinson for strength training. He plans to have a flexible swimming schedule and he may compete in Winter Nationals or an international meet, but his main focus is building up his training for meets to come.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
“Right now I’m on a little bit of a break. Most of our team is resetting before we really dial back into these last couple months. For me, I’ll be continuing with Herbie Behm and our more sprint based program. I’m changing my strength program to work with Keenan Robinson and we’re focusing on training with him so that’ll be new,” said House. “I’ll kind of be a little bit lax in the fall of competition. I’ll maybe focus on Winter Nationals or an international meet as well. I think it’s gonna be more conducive just to kind of get back to a training block and start building myself up better for the spring and summer of next year and going forward with that as best as possible.”
Originally from Ohio, House occasionally feels a sense of nostalgia for his favorite hometown eateries while he’s away in Arizona. Among them is Graeter’s Ice Cream.
“It’s like a renowned ice cream in Cincinnati. It’s the best ice cream I’ve ever had in the world. Even like being in different countries. It’s simple, it kind of makes me laugh saying it, but definitely that for sure,” House said.
House proudly stands by his preference for pineapple on pizza, considering it an absolute must-have topping. While he acknowledges that not everyone shares his enthusiasm for this unique delicacy, he remains confident in his preference.
“It’s a must,” said House. “It’s almost gotten into a fist fight before. People are very adamant about it.”
Throughout his years swimming collegiately at ASU, Grant House says that he has had two “swim besties,” who have had a significant impact on his life and journey with swimming.
“Through all of my years, I would say it’s probably a tie between two people. It would be Christian Lorenz and Patrick Park. Christian is actually from Indiana and so I knew him there and he knew me and we had a friendship there. He’s pretty much 80% of the reason I actually even knew Arizona State existed for swimming and a large reason why I came out to Arizona State. Then our friendship just blossomed when I came out here,” said House. “Patrick Park I just really connected well with him at the start right away. He’s been a confidant and a peer that I can connect with. He was a captain my freshman year when he was a senior. They are just two guys that I look up to, connect with and just really love and care a lot about now.”
If House had to describe himself with a flavor of ice cream, it would be Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.
“I’m definitely more of a vanilla guy at heart, but having the chunks of chocolate are just kind of a little bit more pizazz, a little bit more flare. On a regular day, it’s not really about the events that you have planned. It’s how you make the most of it, like how you add your little extra aspects to it. So that makes me think of the chocolate chip.” said House. “Peanut butter is just so savory and dense and I really look at my personality as someone who spends a lot of purposeful and intentional time with another person. So it’s a very dense amount of time spent with one another.”
House has hidden talents beyond swimming. He used to play the drums and is considering setting up a new drum set. He also hosts his own podcast and plans to revive it, and he even has a passion for acting, which he pursued during his high school days.
“I played the drums growing up. I really enjoyed that. I actually recently looked into purchasing a new drum set now that I have space. I have my own podcast and I love doing that. Now that I’m done with college, I’ve been kind of rebooting that,” House said.
“I always forget about this but the one hidden talent that probably no one ever expects is that I did acting in high school for four years. I love it. I love theater. I love acting. I was actually the lead role in a play of the 12 Angry Men in high school,” said House. “Not many people know that. I love it. I wish I could do more of it now, but it’s amazing.”
If House could create a holiday, it would be either a National Park day or a Music Festival day.
“I feel like it’d definitely be something like a National Park or music related to where you have a national park that opens up and it’s like a mandated day off where you have to go to the closest national park,” said House. “Maybe there’s a day where there’s like 30 music festivals all across the US and it’s all different kinds of music, all different styles.”
“I really connect with nature and I really resonate with music,” House said.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
If House was a superhero, his superpower would be the power of flight.
“I got backlash from this last time, but I would love to fly,” said House. “I think that would solve a lot of transportation problems, it would just simplify a lot of things. I would just want to fly like a couple hundred miles here or there. It just simplifies so many things.”
When rating how funny he thinks he is on a scale of 1-10, House said he is a 7.7.
“I think I’m like a 7.7. I am definitely taking into account that all my jokes don’t always hit,” House said. “But when I am my most authentic self, I don’t really care what other people think and that makes me funny and a little bit looser.”
Fun Fact: Grant House also plays water polo and is passionate about lacrosse and rock climbing!
“I played water polo for five years. I definitely loved that a lot. My last year especially, I really fell in love with the sport to an even deeper degree and I actually had a call with California Berkeley to play there. I talked to my head coach, Mike Roberts, another very influential figure for me about how I have more enjoyment doing water polo, and I feel like there’s so much more room for me to improve there than in swimming in some regards. I asked him one time, I was like, ‘Should I pursue this?’ And he was like, ‘I think you can be great in water polo, but I think you have a lot more to give in swimming.’ I loved water polo. I loved the team dynamic of it because it wasn’t just you out there,” House said.
“My uncle taught me lacrosse at the age of 11 or 12 and I loved it. That’s the one sport that I wish I had actually played and pursued regardless of whatever level I was because I really just enjoy watching the sport, the history of the sport, and playing it to the level where I didn’t really care how bad I looked or what level I was at. It’s just enjoyable to play for me,” House said.
“One of my biggest goals when I’m done swimming is to really dive into rock climbing. I’ve picked that up the last like two and a half years. Every time I go, I can just get lost for like an hour, two hours at a time enjoying it because you have to be so present with it and focus on where your feet and your hands are going every time. I love it. I think it’s amazing. I do bouldering and the top rope harness. I haven’t done too much outdoors yet but I definitely want to get more into that after my swimming career,” House said.