Swimmer’s actions speak louder than words

Thursday, January 22, 1998

Swimmer’s actions speak louder than words

BERTELINK: All-American motivates team through experience, not
words

By Steve Kim

Daily Bruin Contributor

There’s no doubt senior distance swimmer Cindy Bertelink is good
at what she does. She’s a three-time All-American, finishing 10th
last year at the NCAA’s, and performing well in the previous two
years.

Her accomplishments reach far back, even to the ’92 Canadian
Olympic trials, where she placed third in the 800 free and second
place in the same event at the ’96 trials, barely missing the
Olympics by a second. She also placed third in the 400 free in
’96.

Bertelink’s swimming achievements speak loudly. Surprisingly,
she doesn’t.

"I’m pretty quiet," says Bertelink, pretty quietly. She’s
intelligently choosy with her words, and takes her time speaking
her mind, if she does at all.

One can imagine someone as reserved as she is back in her
freshman year. Bertelink remembers when she first came to her
swimming practice at UCLA.

"I didn’t know a single person on the team. I came in for my
first workout and being a distance swimmer, I joined the distance
lanes. There were three senior distance swimmers, and I overheard
them say, ‘Finally, this is our last year. Lane 1 is ours, all
ours!’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think I’ll swim in Lane
2!’"

She also recalls how she cried in frustration when she had so
many problems with Murphy Hall as a freshman, a sad reminder of
many freshman first-time experiences at UCLA.

After four years, she is still quiet, but timid no more. She can
proudly say, "Lane 1 is my lane!"

After all, she has earned it.

UCLA head coach Cyndi Gallagher can attest to Bertelink’s
improvements.

"She just kinda chipped away at it," Gallagher said. "That’s how
our program is, you come in good, you get better."

Gallagher can also tell how important Bertelink is for the
team.

"Cindy is one of our most versatile swimmers," she said. "What
she does for us is she swims whatever we tell her, and they’re
always the hardest events. She’s really motivated."

Bertelink has compliments of her own for her coaches.

"Cyndi and Brad Burnham really changed the way I approach things
and the way I think," Bertelink said. "It used to be, ‘Do this and
you’ll go fast.’ But now it’s, ‘Do this because it does this and
this and this, and this is why you go fast.’ It makes you think a
lot more, now that you’re older."

And now that she’s older, Bertelink can share her experiences
with the younger team members.

"I don’t know whether I consider myself a vocal leader, but I’m
very experienced in the sport," Bertelink said. "My entire family
swam, and my mom was my first coach. So what the younger teammates
are going through, I can probably say I’ve been through it. I think
my main quality, now that I’m a senior, is that people can come (to
me) if they need to talk and I’m going to listen and give
advice."

Bertelink believes confidence plays a key role in her maturity.
She says, "I’ve gained a certain confidence because I’m confident
in what I can do in the water. Through the years, as I matured,
I’ve been able to use that confidence I have in the pool in other
areas of my life, which in a way made me a more rounded
person."

One of the other areas of Bertelink’s life includes academia.
She majors in physiological sciences and plans to get a master’s
degree in physical therapy. She has a full load of work every day,
as she juggles practice sessions and studies.

"I just don’t have time to goof off," she said. "One of the good
things about swimming is that it has taught me to schedule my
time."

She, like her teammates, wakes up at 5:30 a.m. for her morning
swim from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. After a morning of classes, she has
practice from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. And then, there are the weight
training sessions.

"I’ll get back probably around 6:30 and I still have to make
dinner," Bertelink said. "And I don’t stay up as late as other
students, because I have to wake up early for the next morning. I
did have one quarter when I took on too many science classes. But
it’s really about time management, balance and commitment."

She dispels the annoying myth that athletes have it easy.

"We’ve had some bad rap about that. I think students see the
glorious aspects of college sports," Bertelink said. "We practice
24 hours a week plus we travel, and we’re full-time students on top
of that. I do as much if not more than other students.

"I think if you can handle it, you should be able to do it. It
may seem to them like, ‘Well, it doesn’t look like they do much.’
And I’m like, ‘I only get two weeks off the year!"

After this season, perhaps she’ll get a longer break.

It’s Bertelink’s final year of swimming for UCLA, and she’s
grateful for all her Bruin experiences.

"We have a very special team. There’s not too many (other)
people who spend so much time with each other," Bertelink said.
"I’ve been fortunate to be with such a close class. We always had a
class that’s been very optimistic, happy and grateful – grateful to
come to this school and to be able to come to the pool every
day."

All that commitment and dedication: has it been worth it for
Bertelink?

"It’s definitely been a benefit," Bertelink said. "If I didn’t
love the sport I wouldn’t spend so many hours training for how many
years. Swimming’s given me the opportunity to come here. This is an
amazing school. I’ve been able to travel. I got to meet a lot of
people I wouldn’t have been able to meet, especially being someone
who’s more on the quiet side."

Bertelink’s actions speak louder than her words. Maybe she’s not
so quiet after all.Scott Quintard/ASUCLA Photography

Senior Cindy Bertelink is a three-time All-American swimmer. Her
experience helps motivate her team.