Warrnambool swimmer Isaac Jones living the American college dream

Isaac Jones is still in regular contact with his first swimming coach Jayson Lamb some two years after leaving his Warrnambool home to embark on a college career in the United States.

Lamb took an eight-year-old Jones under his wing 13 years ago and the butterfly and freestyle specialist was quickly identified as a potential Australian representative.

Now 21 and halfway through a scholarship at the sports-mad University of Kentucky – a National Collegiate Athletic Association division one school –  Jones still asks his long-time mentor for advice.

Jones, visiting Australia for the first time since jetting off two years ago, is using his break to train under Lamb at the AquaZone pool where his prodigious talent was first identified. 

The former Emmanuel College student, who missed out on a spot on the Australian team for the Rio Olympics, wants to put his off-season hard work to the test when he swims in the US Open in Minnesota in August.

“I did last year in San Antonio. I got a fourth in the relay and was right on my best times in my butterfly,” he said.

“There probably won’t be as much competition this year because their best swimmers will be at the Olympics but I’d like to get back to those best times and see how the training with Jayson has gone and try a few different things.

“I swum with him for so long so our relationship is good and he knows what I respond to.”

Jones will reassess his goals after the US Open meet.

He believes his performances at that event will give him a clearer picture of what he should aim for.

Both the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2020 Olympics are among his long-term ambitions.

Jones competed at the Australian Olympic trials in Adelaide in April.

“In the 400-metre freestyle I won the B final, in the 200m free I missed the semi-finals by .01 of a second,” he said.

“The guy who beat me was right beside me and passed me right at the end and in the 200m butterfly I made the final and finished seventh.

“It is different (to a regular meet). With the Olympic year you do heats, semis and finals. A lot of the time you just do it once or twice but having to do the race three times to get through to each stage is hard yakka.”

The testing nature of the Rio trials is emulated on the US college swimming circuit.

Jones trains every day – long course in the morning and shortcourse in the afternoon – with his 50-strong University of Kentucky teammates.

They travel up to six hours for meetings against other high-calibre schools.

“Everything is bigger and everything is so much more competitive,” Jones said.

“Just being a little bit off your game you can slip 10 places in an event.

“You have always got to be on, which can be mentally draining.

“It’s good to come back to Warrnambool and relax and it’s not too serious all the time.”

Jones now feels comfortable at his home away from home.

The teaching student, who wants to take maths and science classes, is helping in a Kentucky high school and, after two years on campus, is preparing to move into a house with four swimming teammates.

“They’re all interested in where you’re from and the teachers like it because being an athlete over there you’re a role model,” he said of working as a teacher’s aide. 

“The teachers seem to think they work a bit harder when someone new is in the classroom.”

Jones’ teaching experience extends beyond the classroom.

He is enjoying passing on his knowledge to primary school swimming classes in Warrnambool during his break.

“Sometimes I take the younger (representative) squads and they’re a bit more aware of what I’ve done,” he said.

“They go to the same events and see that I went through the same things.

“A lot of them ask questions like ‘what’s it like?’ and 'how do you go about being seen?’.”

The University of Kentucky is a school on a whole different scale to what Jones experienced as a student at Our Lady Help of Christians and Emmanuel College.

The Lexington-based college has 30,000 students or, as Jones says, is “about the size of Warrnambool”.

“The other eye-opening thing is how big they take everything – everything is a show,” Jones said of American lifestyle. 

Jones enjoys being part of the university’s strong sporting culture.

The Wildcats also boast high-achieving basketball, football and track and field programs. 

One of the school’s current alumni is Australian basketball talent Isaac Humphries – a seven-foot centre considered a long-term Boomers’ prospect.

“I think they’ve won eight national (basketball) championships which is the second most and every year they’re in the NCAA tournament and March Madness,” Jones said.

“The NBA draft is Friday and they reckon there might be three or four from my school get drafted and last year they had seven.”

Kentucky is without a professional sporting franchise which amplifies its colleges’ popularity.

“If it is rivals, if we’re against Louisville or Tennessee, it’s pretty packed,” Jones said of the Wildcats’ swimming crowds.

But basketball and football are the major drawcards.

University of Kentucky students get cheap tickets – a major bonus according to Jones.

“Our stadium holds 23,000 for basketball and for football it’s like 70,000 and that’s filled every game,” he said.