Grant King, a large factor in starting the Lindsay Lane swim program, is The News Courier’s 2021-2022 Athens-Limestone boys swimmer of the year after a successful senior campaign that saw him land at Samford University in Birmingham to continue the pursuit of his dreams in academics.

The News Courier interviewed King to learn more about his love for swimming, other passions of his and what the future has in store.

Starting the Program

King grew up in Athens at Lindsay Lane Christian Academy for the vast majority of his life.

During his time, he swam for the Athens Gators in the summer, the Decatur USA League and then also swimming in High School for Lindsay Lane, which includes getting the team at LLCA started alongside the help of his mother, Annie King.

“We got the team (officially) started my sophomore year. I was like ‘I could probably just start a team,’ so me and my mom go on that. We talked to the athletic director at our school and got that going. Really, it was just because I wanted to hangout with my friends more and swim with them, be able to have some competition. It is kind of like a close-knit area, in my opinion. It really was about having fun with my friends, the camaraderie and competing as well of course.”

Love of two sports only

He has love for two sports and two sports only, saying he tried multiple sports growing up but only swimming and ultimate frisbee garnering his interest as he grew older.

Some of his greatest achievements include setting a personal record in 2019 while he had pneumonia.

“I don’t pay attention to any other sport. I really don’t watch like basketball, football, any of that stuff. I’m not real into watching sports in the first place, you know?”

According to Grant, he did not want to swim at first, but developed a love for it over time as he made more friends and improved his game.

“I didn’t actually want to swim at first. I was like eight years old. My cousins swam on the Athens Gators and my mom said I should do it, but I was like ‘I don’t want to do this,’” he said. “But, then as I started it, I started making friends and I was having a lot of fun. So, then I started liking it, and then at about (age) 12 was when I was like ‘hey, maybe I should try a little bit harder.”

He says his favorite stroke when swimming is the butterfly stroke, shown in the photo coinciding with this story.

“Fly is definitely the best stroke. Objectively it is the best stroke. I have no clue why I like it so much, but it is just awesome. I think it’s more because of the harmonics of it.”

For ultimate frisbee, while it started off as more of a hobby, it is turning into a large focus of his as he goes to Samford University for his degree in computer science.

His ultimate goal is getting a job on The Redstone Arsenal.

This is the 5th of 22 profiles featured in The News Courier for Athens-Limestone player of the year for their respective High School sports.