MELBOURNE
A 9-year-old Goan boy based in New York, USA, has qualified for swimming in 8 races at the Junior Olympics to be held in New York on March 8-10.
Reyaan Barretto Iyer has qualified for the 100 Yard Back, 100 Yard Breast, 100 Yard Free and 100 Yard Medley, 50 yard back, 50 yard breast, 50 yard free and the 200 yard freestyle.
SPORTS AND STUDIES
Reyaan started swimming at 5 years old. It was a dream of his parents, Roxanne Barretto Iyer, who hails from Chinchinim, and Sushil Iyer, who hails from Bangalore, that he learnt to swim as neither of his parents grew up learning to swim and it was their biggest regret.
Once he started taking classes, he was quickly noticed by his swimming teacher as a standout swimmer and started doing full length laps and dives at age 6.
He was accepted into a professional swim club at 7 years old and since then he has received several awards in swimming in New York and other states, leading to his qualification at the Junior Olympics.
A hard working and determined boy, Reyaan swims 5- 6 days a week for 2 hours a day. His weekends often start at 5 am on weekends as he travels the country competing in several races.
Reyaan's days start at 7 am when he gets ready for school. After school, he often has soccer or music classes, he does his homework and plays with his brother and friends. From 6.30-8.30 pm every night, he goes for swim practice.
His weekends and holidays sometimes start at 5 am as he often has to drive hours in New York or to other states to compete. It's a hard sacrifice for a little boy who has to give up birthday parties or playing with friends on the weekend. Swimming and his school work take up all of his time.
Reyaan is a bright student who loves maths and science, and is often nominated in his school for his excellent in maths. He plays the guitar, piano and violin like his musician parents but his ultimate love is soccer.
He plays soccer for the Barcelona Club (Barca) in New York and he will be going to Barcelona in Spain after his Junior Olympics in swimming to train for a week with the club in soccer.
FAMILY SUPPORT
Reyaan has professional coaches dedicated to him, but his ultimate coach and hero is his father, Sushil Iyer. Even though his father doesn’t know how to swim, he watches hours of videos each night learning Olympian level tips to teach and coach his son.
While the entire family makes sacrifices, it is Reyaan's little brother Sahaan (6) who has sacrificed the most. He has to often stay home on the weekends with his paternal grandparents from Bangalore who travel to the US to look after him while his parents and brother are away for hours at swim meets.
Sahaan is also a swimmer and musician and hopes his brother will become an Olympian. Reyaan's grandparents are from Bangalore and travel from India to spend months in the USA to support Reyaan's dream of being an Olympic swimmer.
Reyaan's mother, Roxanne, was the Vice President and global head of marketing for L'Oreal, Ralph Lauren and Estee Lauder in New York. She worked for The Times of India in Mumbai and went to Carmel College and Goa University. Reyaan’s father, Sushil, is the global head of packaging at Johnson and Johnson and his grandfather, paternal grandfather, Raghupathy Iyer, worked for the Indian government.
