Pushing the Limits: Aaron’s Story

I started kayaking when I was 11 years old. I got into it because my mom’s friend had a kid who was doing it through school, so I tried it out at Green Lake at the Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club.

At first, it was more of a club activity and a great way to get outside. When you start out, there’s a lot more swimming than actual paddling because the boats are so unstable. You get in, you fall out, you swim back to shore, you get in, fall out… It’s just an endless cycle. But I really enjoyed it and stuck with it. It’s given me a lot of cool opportunities.

I started competing nationally when I was 16 and trained a bit more consistently. Since I’ve been competing internationally, I train two to three times a day. I train once in the morning on the water, usually for about an hour. It’s a bit difficult when it’s 32 degrees (0 Celsius) out because your hands get numb, and your nose gets nice and frosty. So a good day actually starts off with me being warm!

Whenever I get stressed or nervous at competitions, I try to sit back and remember why I am doing this sport in the first place: I love paddling. I love the training and community aspects just as much as the competitiveness. That helps to put me in a more relaxed mindset, which is how I race best. I also try to remember everyone that supports me – my friends, family, teammates and coaches.

Right now, I’m aiming to qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. We have the US trials in March next year. They qualify you to compete at the Continental qualifiers, where you have to win the double kayak event, or place in the top two in the single kayak, to get a spot at the Olympics. If all goes well, I’ll be heading to Paris and hopefully LA in 2028. This means I’ll be balancing full-time training with school again soon.

Because of my schedule, I’m taking a little break from my part-time coaching job with the kids. It’s really fun working with them, and I often think I learn more from them than they do from me. They’re around 10-17 years old, and I’ve realized that I need to communicate with them more and try to share my experiences and tips I’ve learned from my time in the sport. When I was younger and coming up in the club, I picked up most of the training skills and habits by watching older athletes. I would try to mimic them, or coaches would suggest I start doing something a certain way.

I grew up hard of hearing, which meant asking “What?” many times, and people having to repeat themselves. It was frustrating for me and frustrating for them. Getting hearing aids did help a lot. There were some bullying instances because kids didn’t really understand why I was wearing these “weird, alien” devices in my ears. If I could talk to my younger self, I’d try to encourage him and say that hearing aids are no different than glasses. They’re just helping everyone stay connected. It’s nothing to be ashamed of – it’s just what you have to do to stay connected.

As for the future, a lot is up in the air. It’s hard to be a professional kayaker in the United States because there’s not a lot of funding, but I intend to keep paddling for the foreseeable future. There are a lot of cool oceanography jobs out there which I will explore when I graduate. I appreciate that oceanography encompasses many different STEM disciplines, like chemistry, physical oceanography and biology. And, of course, I like being by the water.

Note: Aaron wears the Phonak Audéo Life Lumity, the world’s first rechargeable waterproof hearing aid.