Water Polo, Swimming
Favorite athlete: LeSean McCoy
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Swimming the 200 freestyle for the first time.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Swimming the 50 freestyle and getting a bad cramp in my leg after the flip turn, then having to finish the race while dragging my leg in a 60-degree angle.
Music on iPod: Steve Aoki, Armin van Buuren, Calvin Harris, Tiesto
Future plans: Biomedical engineer
Words to live by: ‘Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.’ –Confucius
One goal before turning 30: Live financially stable
One thing people don’t know about me: I don’t like Chinese food.
There was nothing about Kevin Soong’s introduction to swimming that suggested the Upper Merion senior would one day not only excel in the sport but also have a genuine passion for it.
“The first memory I have of swimming was standing on the edge of the pool when I was six years old and the coach pushed me into the water, basically having me swim for survival,” Soong said. “I was actually very scared at the time.”
That introduction to swimming while on vacation in Taiwan was followed by a not-so-pleasant experience at his first competitive meet later that same year.
“I jumped into the pool, and I suddenly forgot how to swim,” Soong said. “The coach had to jump in and save me.”
Despite his somewhat unorthodox start, Soong stuck with swimming, but it wasn’t something he truly enjoyed until high school.
“Throughout elementary school and middle school, my parents brought me to practice and kind of made me swim,” he said. “When I got to high school, it was something I was good at, and it was nice being able to contribute to the team and score points for the team. Also, going to districts is a lot of fun.”
Soong has been scoring a lot of points for the Vikings since he transferred to Upper Merion as a sophomore, and he’s competed in districts in each of the last two years in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
This year Soong has already qualified for districts in five of eight individual events as well as all three relays. His work ethic and leadership have made him an invaluable member of the Vikings’ squad.
“Kevin is constantly leading, constantly watching out for his teammates,” coach Bruce Eppinger said. “Many times I have to go off and talk to the other coaches or I have to pull swimmers aside to talk to them, and Kevin will actually run the entire dryland training.
“Many times when we go to meets, he will run the warm-up for the entire boys and girls teams or work with the captains of the girls’ team to run it. He’s really stepped up this year. He’s the kind of swimmer you really look for as a captain.”
If Soong were only a swimmer, he would be quite accomplished, but he also excels in the classroom. This year he is enrolled in all AP classes – six total, opting to double up on math and sciences.
“I like the sciences, and math I just find easy,” he said.
Last year Soong was enrolled in Calculus, a nightmare for many students. It was a cakewalk for the Viking senior.
“I didn’t have to put much work into it,” he said. “I got 5s on the AP text (the highest score possible), so that was easy.”
Soong isn’t being cocky. He’s just stating a fact. Math and the sciences come easily to him, and he aspires to use his skills in those areas as he pursues a biomedical engineering major at college next year.
“With biomedical engineering, I can help a lot of people and hopefully make machinery that will save lives,” Soong said.
According to Eppinger, Soong’s intelligence also comes into play in the pool.
“It’s neat when you get kids like Kevin who get it,” he said. “You don’t have to explain it to them. They just understand.
“What we find with many swimmers, not just Kevin, but swimmers as a whole is that they tend to lead our school and lead most schools in academics. When you get someone like Kevin who’s even that much higher up, it’s a lot of fun because you don’t have to repeat things. He gets it. He understands what needs to be done, and he’ll do it many times before I ask him to do it.”
This year, Soong added a new event – the 200 free - to his repertoire after two years of focusing mainly on sprints.
“He basically had in his mind that he was a sprinter,” Eppinger said. “He didn’t feel moving into the middle distances was in his best interests.”
Interestingly, the 200 free has become Soong’s favorite event.
“I was always of the mindset that I was a sprinter, and I have to swim the 50 and I have to swim the 100 because those are the two things I excel at, but this year I drastically changed my stroke technique, and I actually became better at the 200,” Soong said. “Now when I swim the 200, I see my times drop and that’s a great feeling.”
Soong wasted little time before leaving his mark in the 200.
“The first time he swam the 200 freestyle this year he qualified for districts immediately,” Eppinger said. “He has done very well this year both in the 100 and 200 freestyle. He just excels at both of those events.
“It’s been a lot of fun to watch it versus the 50. When you swim the 50, there’s no margin for error. Everything has to fall perfectly in line, the moon and the stars have to line up. These (longer) races are a little more technically sound, and I think that plays to his mathematical strength. It appeals to him.”
Soong admits that swimming longer distances has represented a drastic change in mindset.
“I remember my sophomore and junior years – anything more than four laps, I couldn’t do and didn’t like to do because my stroke was inefficient,” he said. “I would snake through the water.
“This year I changed it so in the pool I go forward instead of going to the left. Mr. Eppinger helped me out a lot in the preseason and during the season with my stroke. It takes less energy, so I am able to swim the 200.”
With a trip to districts already assured, Soong has set his goals even higher.
“I would very much like to go to states,” he said. “If not, if I can break 1:50 in the 200, I would be happy with that.”
Soong, who also competes in water polo in the fall, has been contacted by several schools who are interested in his swimming talents, but he is uncertain whether or not he will continue his career at the collegiate level.
For the past two summers, Soong has gone on mission trips with his church to Taiwan where they hold camps. A trip to Taiwan, the native country of his parents, has been an almost annual event for Soong.
With a packed academic and athletic schedule, Soong admits he doesn’t have time for a whole lot of extra curriculars, but he wouldn’t want it any other way, and there’s no mistaking Soong’s impact both in and out of the pool
“Let’s face it, swimming can be a little dry, and you have to have guys who can laugh and can joke, and he can do that,” Eppinger said. “Certainly when Kevin gets in the water, he’s always leading his lane, he’s always out front.
“He’s the one – when everybody is dogged tired, they get on his heels and he just carries them through.”
