Athletes aren’t supposed to be reserved and focused, quiet and composed. American culture and mass media ingrained the concept of ‘athlete’ and ‘hero’ into your mind gradually and subconsciously. The result is an impression of an Olympic icon, an intermingling of athleticism, strength, rowdiness and arrogance.
An athlete conforming to such standards is hailed as an icon.
The others? Shunned because of their differences.
And that’s just fine with freshman swimmer Kekoa Taparra.
A four-time All-American at Kamehameha High School in Mililani, Hawaii, Taparra has subtly set the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) aflame this season. Taparra continued his stunning debut with three first-place finishes in the team’s final dual meet on the year against Iona and Loyola (Md.), winning the 100, 200-yard breaststroke, and the 200-yard individual medley.
A week earlier, Taparra shattered the 200-meter breaststroke record previously last year’s standout swimmer, Drew Kingman, by nearly four seconds.
‘If you watched him in a practice you wouldn’t know he is as good as he is,’ head coach Bill Farley said. ‘But then you’ll tell the team to go fast on this set and then you realize, ‘Wow, that guy is good.”
‘He just takes off, and nobody can stay with him,’ Farley adds.
Cumulatively, Taparra has won 19 of his 23 individual events during the Stags’ dual meet season, establishing three school-records and tying another.
‘One of the things we learned going through the dual meet season is that you can put him anywhere.’ Farley said. ‘He can virtually swim anything, and he is going to be in the race.’
Taparra, though, is quick to deflect individual praise.
‘I don’t really think about it in terms of other people,’ Taparra said softly. ‘Ever since I started swimming my coaches have always told me that swimming is an individual sport. You always just try to do the best in terms of your own self.’
Even outside the pool Taparra’s laid back attitude shines through his personality.
‘I’ve never heard him complain,’ Farley said of his freshman. ‘He is very unassuming. Everything that comes out of his mouth is positive, and he is only a freshman.’
Farley adds that Taparra is a remarkably focused individual. A double-major in computer sciences and biology with dual minors in Asian studies and mathematics, Taparra already has grand plans of lab research and studying abroad in Japan.
‘If I talk to him on a daily basis before practice, he talks to me about his classes, he talks to me about getting a job,’ Farley adds. ‘He never talks to me about swimming, and I think that’s great.’
Taparra forced himself to become involved from the outset to help in his adjustment. For him, Fairfield represented more than a 5009-mile gap between his collegiate life and his home; it was his first opportunity to live and train on the East Coast.
‘I had been on the West Coast my whole life, but I really wanted to go to college on the East Coast,’ Taparra said. ‘I figured that something that different would develop me as a person.
‘And it has so far,’ said the talented freshman.
Taparra said that his relationship with his teammates, coupled with his involvement in extracurricular activities, eased the initial transition to East Coast life.
‘They are like my family,’ Taparra said.
As Taparra and the Stags prepare for the MAAC Invitational Meet, which begin on Feb. 12 at Loyola College’s’ Aquatic Center in Baltimore, Md., Farley takes comfort in knowing that the team is in prime position to have its strongest showing in decades.
‘We have a really great group of kids here this year,’ Farley said. ‘I drive home most nights with a smile on my face, and it has been a long time since I can say that.’
At that crux of the change is Farley’s freshman prodigy, whose name means ‘soldier’ in native Hawaiian.
Maybe it’s classical conditioning; you would never think of Taparra like that.
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