Athlete Focus: “You Can’t Sweat When You Swim”

Max Shen chose has been swimming since he was five years old, so it was natural for him to elect to pursue the sport when he entered high school last fall. He said that he likes the coach and he likes the feel of the water, and also pointed out that “you can’t sweat when you swim.”

While he is only a freshman, he has been swimming competitively since last year on the Solano Athletics Sea Otters (SASO) team. He’s also been able to go to championships already. Shen’s favorite strokes are freestyle and breaststroke because he finds them to be the most enjoyable. He said that he feels like a frog when he is in the water doing those strokes.

His most memorable meet was the first one because he did really well. He wanted to be worthy because he’s the only freshman on Varsity and everyone is really good, and he proved his worth.

Shen is enjoying being on the swim team and he has also played basketball in the past. He also plays tennis and works out at the gym, practices swimming in his free time and hikes. He is clearly athletic and would want to see others make the attempt to be so, too. “Just do it, don’t worry if you’ll be a loser or a winner, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s about having fun and enjoying it, you only have four years of high school and maybe you won’t get another chance.

When he’s not working out, Shen likes to play musical instruments – including guitar, piano and violin. He is in a band and plays for Armijo’s Jazz band. He also likes to play video games.  His favorite is Starcraft, a game his father shared with him. Shen is also a Boy Scout who loves to read and his favorite books are A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones, which, along with The Office, is one of his favorite TV shows, too.

When he graduates from Armijo, he is hoping to go to either Stanford or UC Davis where he might major in either Computer Science or Medicine. He isn’t sure if he wants to pursue a career in technology or become a surgeon… or maybe even a lawyer. He has many years ahead of him to make that decision.

This high school athlete shared that he has a six-year old little sister named Zhen Yi. “She’s cool and she’s cute, kind of annoying,” he said. His role models are his parents and grandparents. His family is hardworking and they used all their hard work to get everything they have and even went to college, doing everything they had on their own even through all the discrimination. They inspire him to keep going no matter what.