ANDREW Michael

General
COACHED BY FATHER
He has been coached by his father Peter, who is originally from South Africa, since age nine. "We work so closely as coach and athlete, but we also spend every single day together in the house as dad and son. Not too long ago, dad had heard a message, 'Coaching like a father loves'. It changed everything, because we realised we didn't have to switch hats from 'coach' to 'dad'. That was what we have always been told, like a coach has to be angry and intense. You can still care, love, support and encourage without breaking down. So, that was huge because we were able to show up to race or train and not let it affect our days if it was bad." (isl.global, 22 Oct 2020; hopesports.org, 15 May 2019; fina.org, 12 Nov 2018)

TURNING PRO
He turned professional at age 14 after signing a deal with nutrition supplement company P2 Life. As a result, he gave up his high school and university [NCAA] swimming eligibility. "In the beginning [turning professional] was not a good change. I obviously had to give up a lot of things, such as high school and NCAA swimming. For me, that was easy because I knew I didn't want to swim in the university because the way they did things was very different and often the athlete was kind of ruined. What was tough was I didn't really know where I could find my value or worth. I think a lot of it was because I still badly wanted to impress, please everyone, break records, be the guy in the spotlight. And what my family realised quickly on was I was so afraid to fail because I was sponsored and had something to prove, that I would show up sick, I got nausea, I would get afraid of the next kid, a kid that I could easily beat. Luckily then I had mentors [and] I learned how to not have a performance-based identity but have a purpose-based identity." (hopesports.org, 15 May 2019; olympics.nbcsports.com, 23 Apr 2014)