July 14, 2010
By Dean Caparaz '90
OAKLAND, Calif. -
Rolandas Gimbutis spends his "retirement" giving back to his adopted home.
A former All-American swimmer for California, Gimbutis moved from his native Lithuania to the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002 to study English and later competed for the Golden Bears. He also swam in three Olympic Games (2000, 2004 and 2008) for his country. Gimbutis retired from competition after the Beijing Games.
While at Cal, he also served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Oakland Undercurrent Swim Team not too far from Berkeley. Now 29, Gimbutis coaches full time for the Undercurrents. The team offers swim lessons as well as the chance to swim competitively to lower-income families in the East Bay. The Undercurrents offer scholarships to children who otherwise could not afford to pay.
"It is rewarding because you're teaching and coaching kids and seeing them improve," Gimbutis said. "It gives you satisfaction as a coach. Generally, they would probably never learn how to swim because of the cost and pool availability around Oakland. There are pools around, but there are no programs like this. It's so unique.
"For most parents, the water is dangerous for their kids. We teach lessons for life, because when you learn how to swim, you never forget."
Sprinting for the Bears
At Cal, the former sprinter earned All-America honors in the 400-yard freestyle relay and honorable mention All-America honors in the 50 and 100 freestyles during the 2003-04 season. He also won a Pac-10 title as part of the Bears' 400-free relay that season.
In the 2004-05 season, Gimbutis won NCAA titles with the Bears' 200- and 400-free relays and 200-medley relay and placed fifth in the 50 and 100 frees as well as in the 400-medley relay at the national meet. Gimbutis and the Bears also won the 200- and 400-free relay titles at the 2005 Pac-10 Championships.
"He was great," former Cal head coach Nort Thornton said. "It was a great opportunity for him to be here, and he took advantage of it. He was serious about training and swimming, changing his stroke."
The erstwhile Bear graduated from Cal with a degree in conservation and resource sciences in December of 2007. Soon after, he joined Ben Sheppard, a former Cal volunteer assistant coach, and the Undercurrents, which are run under the auspices of the Oakland Community Pools Project. Sheppard, the executive director of the OCPP, is a co-founder of the Undercurrent team, which practices at Laney College.
Gimbutis checks out his alma mater's meets at Spieker Aquatics Complex from time to time. Cal coach Dave Durden's team likewise makes its way to Oakland to offer its help.
"The Cal swimmers visited us a couple times last semester," Gimbutis said. "Guys like Nathan Adrian, Sean Mahoney and Damir Dugonjic were here just to share their experiences. Last time they were here, they got in the water and swam really fast. The kids were really excited. It was neat."
The Cal ties to the Undercurrents and OCPP continue: Former Bears Dominic Cathey and Spencer Hawkins are also coaches with the program, which has produced current Cal men's swimmer Alex Cushing.
`He has the passion' to coach
Gimbutis works with five- to nine--year-olds as part of the Undercurrent swim school. The 6-10 Lithuanian, who was the tallest swimmer at the 2008 Olympics, also coaches an Undercurrent team of kids ranging in age from eight to 11.
"It's pretty neat," Sheppard said. "He's a three-time Olympian and former European youth champion, so he obviously has the swim experience. He has the passion and is great with kids. He's like a gentle giant. That really works well with the kids. He's kind of a big kid himself."
Gimbutis' coaching has paid off, in the form of eight- to 11-year-olds, who were previously non-swimmers, who now have goals of swimming in college and, perhaps, internationally.
"It takes time for kids to mature and for lessons to take hold," Sheppard said. "The coaching he's done is just now starting to come to fruition. He's been integral to the development of that.
"I've seen his coaching style, technique and classroom management skills improving the last 18 months since he's been able to work full time. He's a great asset to our program. We're trying to take minority kids in Oakland and convince them that there's this great big world with infinite possibilities out there and that swimming could be their vehicle.
"Rolandas is an embodiment of that. He's from a small, eastern European country, and he came here speaking no English. He ends up with a Cal degree, fluent in English, and has traveled the world twice over. Swimming was his ticket and still is. He takes coaching sincerely, and he studies it. We go to national conferences, watch DVDs. He does research online, talks to other coaches, like Dave and Nort, all to try to develop his professional side."
