Tideriders swimmer Grace Simon using summer to prepare for college-level competition

For 10 years, Grace Simon has been with the Fort Smith Tideriders swim team and has enjoyed success while learning to love swimming. It will be a bit different for Simon this summer, though.

She’s using her latest stint as a Tiderider not necessarily for competitive purposes but to refine her swimming style in preparation for her second year of college.

“This summer, I’ve tried not to get burned out and just take it really slow, like I’m having fun,” said Simon, who currently attends Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo.

As a freshman at SBU last year, Simon had a much tougher training regimen in college than she was used to with the Tideriders or any other swim team. She was also a part of SBU’s inaugural season of swimming.

“I honestly enjoyed it, it was really good, but it has its highs and lows, it’s very difficult,” Simon said. “I think here (with the Tideriders), we definitely didn’t train as much as in college and Tom (Bullock, the Tideriders’ coach) did that purposely so we didn’t get burned out. It was a lot (of training in college), but I learned so much growth in my first two months that it was like really motivating.”

Simon had some success early on in her collegiate career. About a month into her team’s season, in October, she claimed the program’s first individual women’s championship. She also got to participate in the Great Lakes Valley Conference finals in the 500 meter freestyle, which Simon remarked is her favorite event to race.

Despite the increased training, Simon has fond memories of her freshman year at SBU. She also took a tremendous amount of pride in being part of the first swimming team at the school.

“That was so cool, and I think we all got so close (as a team) because of it,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it was hard in a sense, but it was different because we had nobody else to look up to, so we were all just experiencing it on our own.”

Simon was homeschooled but swam for Southside High School. She took up swimming at the age of 9. Of the many things Simon learned from jumping into the pool, one which really stood out was the ability to stay disciplined within herself. Simon also grew to embrace the joy of swimming, especially after joining the Tideriders in 2016.

“It’s a lifestyle, that’s something I learned from the Bullocks (Tom and his dad Ian, a longtime coach for the Tideriders),” Simon said. “They teach lessons and (Tom) coaches and even Ian, I swim with him in the masters (division) and he still does it and it’s like, it’s taught me that it is a lifestyle and you do it because it’s fun.”

With the Tideriders, Simon made state at the age of 13 and was also a state finalist her junior year. In club swimming over the past two years, she made eight finals in various events.

Simon is looking forward to her sophomore season at SBU, where she is majoring in marketing with a minor in journalism. One reason for that is she will be joined on the team by her younger sister Abby, who will be a freshman. Another younger sister, Mia, is 16 and also swims.

“I would like to focus on probably more of my mental game and just focus on what really matters and what doesn’t,” Grace said. “I don’t swim for myself, I don’t get a 4.0 for myself, just do everything with excellence, so getting back to that mindset and getting ready to do everything with excellence.”