Lisa Batey, Not Lost In Translation
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Lisa Batey is an American athlete, coach and licensed sports massage therapist living in Kanagawa, Japan. She coaches in Hayama that sits at the northern end of Miura Peninsula, facing Sagami Bay on the Pacific Ocean.
With her idyllic training venue with a temperate climate, short cool winters, and humid summers, Batey regularly participates in Japan International Open Water Swimming Association events throughout Japan as well as leads an English-speaking pod of open water swimmers and triathletes in Hayama.
As a U.S. Masters Swimming and American Swimming Coaches Association-certified coach, she surprised the local Japanese with her passion for the open water. Especially in tradition-bound Hayama where the Japanese Imperial Family has maintained its seaside Hayama Imperial Villa for over 100 years. “I swim year round in Hayama while the locals shake their heads. I’ve made it my pet project to start a foreigner open water training group there. It’s free of charge. There are some open water swimmers and a ton of triathletes here so I started the group last year.”
It’s growing under Batey’s leadership and inspiration.
“We swim parallel to the beach, not far from shore where I can monitor things closely. It’s important to me that my triathletes learn to enjoy or at least feel comfortable and safe in the water instead of just getting through it. We serve a group of athletes who would otherwise not be out in the ocean.”
For any English-speakers or foreign open water swimmers passing through the Tokyo area, Batey can be found at Club 360 near Roppongi Hills.
Copyright © 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association
