Q&A with John Azar

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Third-year John Azar and the Virginia men’s swimming and diving team has a busy week ahead, beginning Thursday with seventh-ranked Tennessee. Both the men and women will then compete at Kentucky on Friday. Azar recently sat down with VirginiaSports.com to talk about the team’s solid start, his favorite event to swim and his passion for music.

Question: How did it feel to beat Virginia Tech last week?
Azar: It felt good. They are our big in-state rival and it’s a really good meet to have at the beginning of the season just to see where everyone is. We were very satisfied with our times and I was happy with how I did.

Question: What challenges do Tennessee and Kentucky present?
Azar: It’s going to be a great meet on Thursday. Tennessee is very challenging and we are all very excited about swimming against them. We are pumped up and ready to see how we can do against a top-10 team. It’s good training to have meets in back-to-back days. We like to keep up our intensity for more than one day.

Question: What was the highlight of last season for you?
Azar: Definitely the 800 free relay at ACCs. It was probably the best moment of my swimming career. It was just so exciting. Everyone was dropping times and swimming so fantastic. We beat everyone by such a big margin.

Question: What are the goals for this season:
Azar: For the team, it’s to repeat our win at ACCs and go top-10 at NCAAs. Individually, I just want to improve all my times and get into an individual event at NCAAs.

Question: What is your favorite event to swim?
Azar: The 200 freestyle. It’s not too short, not too long. It gives me time to strategize. I like to take it out a little bit slower than everyone else and then I start speeding up slowly after that and try to back half everybody.

Question: What is your major? Do you have any career aspirations?
Azar: I am an English major and I am thinking about doing a minor in music. I’ll be doing the fifth-year Comm School program and maybe will try to get into marketing or something like that. I am still trying to find exactly what I want to do.

Question: What has been your favorite class at UVa?
Azar: My music 131 class. Everything has just been so much fun. It is a music theory class but we learned the basics of piano and stuff like that.

Question: Do you play the piano?
Azar: Yes. I have played for a couple of years. My passion for music I think comes from my sister. Ever since she was little, she would always be singing or playing the piano. We would always have a competition to see who could play better songs on the piano. I never had the gift of singing. When I went to the opera and saw her sing, it was a big inspiration.

Question: What is your favorite spot on Grounds?
Azar: If it is not going to be the Lawn, which everyone says, I would have to say the McGregor Room in Alderman Library. That’s actually my favorite spot. It feels like an entirely different place to me.