FAST MASTERS: WHO'S IN THAT LANE? -- EPISODE 11: SIDNEY KAO

This installment of the Masters series "Who's in that Lane?" is one of the fastest swimmers in the Masters group!  It is this writer's opinion that he is probably one of the youngest also.

If you haven't met Sidney (Sid) Kao, here's your chance to know a little bit about this interesting and unique person.

Sid was born in Tokyo, Japan, but grew up in Southern California.  He has been at FAST since 2006, starting off as an age group swimmer.  He swam at Sunny Hills High School and continued his swimming career at Arizona State.  He says he was a distance swimmer throughout his years swimming at FAST and through college.  Now he only does sprint events.  He graduated with two degrees: 1) International Relations and 2) Japanese.  Initially, he was thinking about going into law but ended up not doing so.  He moved to Japan for 4-1/2 years (2019-2023) and worked in the tourism industry in Tokyo.  He then moved back to Orange County to help his brother continue to grow his company, Aquatics Sports Performance.  That's what Sid is doing right now – coaching and making content for their company.  He says he thoroughly enjoys video editing and all things about movies.  He is also into Brazilian jiu-jitsu!

Sid mentioned that the best thing in his life besides family, is being able to live a happy, healthy, and active life.

Sid is married and says he is surrounded by wonderful siblings and parents as well.  An interesting fact about him (that I think would be hard for some of us to beat) is he has three citizenships: USA, Japan, and Taiwan!  Talk about getting around at a young age!

When I asked him if it was hard to get up for Masters he replied, “Not really!  I've been doing mornings with Brian since I was in high school – they were at 5:00 AM back in the day – and did it in college too.”  He says he really enjoys the early mornings.  As far as Masters goes, he hopes to be able to continue it for a very long time.  He competes in the Masters World Championships because it's a fun meet, but it also gives him a good excuse to travel, so he hopes to also continue doing that too.
Sidney's hope for his future is to continue growing and learning as a person!

If you see Sid on the pool deck, maybe stop and say hi and thank him for letting us get to know a little bit about him.  Truly, this writer is impressed with his accomplishments at this point in his young life!

Congratulations, Sid, and thank you for letting us get to know you. (oh yeah, you're the guy that just passed me/us in the water at that high rate of speed)!