By Celest Castellanos Posted May 9, 2018
Senior Nathan Perkinson has been involved in sports his whole life. At the age of three, he was already learning how to swim laps in a swimming pool. Perkinson has excelled in his sport of choice, breaking the school record of one minute and ten seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Throughout his life, he has played baseball, wrestling, basketball, football, track, and golf. Growing up in California, Perkinson enjoyed playing basketball but grew out of it and began taking swimming seriously when he moved to Winnemucca.
Perkinson’s role models are his parents.
“I’ve always looked up to my mom and what she’s done in her past, when she swam,” said Perkinson. “I’ve looked up to her and my older sister when she started swimming.”
Throughout his passion and love for swim, he had a lot of motivation.
“I just learned to love it,” said Perkinson. “I wasn’t really pushed by my parents, but they gave me the choice until I got older. When I was little, it was my choice whether I wanted to swim or not, until I got into high school. They wanted me to play a sport; I chose swim.”
Perkinson tried a variety of sports throughout his life.
“Football, I started freshman year, wrestling, I started when I was in seventh grade,” said Perkinson. “I started track in fifth grade, but most of the sports I started playing were in my middle school to high school years.”
As a kid, he enjoyed swimming because of the motivation and support he gained, but loved it because of the competition, and his coach, Shelby Ruff, has seen his competitive nature.
“Nathan is highly competitive and one of those athletes who really strives for peak performance,” said coach Shelby Ruff. “He constantly monitors his technique and works hard year-round both in and out of the pool to be in top condition for his races.”
Breaststroke is one of his favorite techniques.
“I started focusing on breaststroke when I started my sophomore year,” said Perkinson. “Before that, I didn’t focus on just one. I did all of the strokes and just did my best in them.”
Perkinson is motivated to disprove people’s perceptions.
“The things that motivate me are the people who tell me I can’t do something or that I’ll never be able to do something. People don’t see that passion in me, or that motivation, I guess,” said Perkinson. “My dad always tells me that you don’t want to have the ‘I want it now’ attitude; it’s all about patience and perseverance.”
Perkinson feels that sports have had a positive impact on him by keeping him active and healthy while introducing him to new people.
