Edward Dylan Plaza is a homebody kid who would prefer to stay at home unless he is playing sports outside. At 10, he already knows what he wants to do: to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.
He likes different sports activities, including mountain biking, indoor wall climbing, and basketball. But what he loves the most is swimming, where he excels and breaks records in various local and international competitions in the UAE.
A competitive and self-motivated kid, he always has short-term goals to focus on. When he competed at a swimming gala in late 2020, Edward Dylan got only the bronze award. He told his father he needed to increase his training classes in preparation for the next meet. With passion coupled with determination, he dominated the next swimming gala and won multiple gala medals the following year.
When he was showing huge potential in swimming, his hard-working coach, Joseph, spoke with his parents to enroll him in advanced classes. His parents were hesitant at first because he was still young, but they eventually agreed with the coach.
The parents’ decision to further harness their son’s skills in swimming paved the way for him to compete in several open-water competitions where he won medals and trophies as well.
Edward Dylan takes pride in his first achievement as a professional swimmer. During the APEX Invitation Swimming Championship in Abu Dhabi in 2021, he bagged three silver medals (50m back, 100m back, and 50m fly) out of four events that he partook in. He did not stop improving from one competition to another until he dominated the 10-year-old category in the UAE.
He recently won overall best swimmer for the 10-year-old category, two in a row, at the Hamilton Aquatics Super Sprint, 3rd All Stars Swimming Championships, and at the APEX Emirates Cup Series Competitive Championship in November this year where he broke the UAE record for the 10-year-old category on 50m freestyle.
‘The son of the sea’ who conquers
Coincidentally, his parents gave him the name ‘Dylan’, a male given name of Welsh origin meaning ‘son of the sea’ or ‘born from the ocean’. Born in March, Edward Dylan’s zodiac sign is Pisces, a symbol consisting of two fish.
When he was around four years old, his parents were already planning for him to engage in any kind of sports activity because of his lung problem. They were in and out of the hospital when he was under three years old. He was also diagnosed with pneumonia when he was just 14 days and spent almost two weeks in the hospital.
Edward Dylan’s father, Choi, was an athlete back in the day. He guided and introduced his son to different kinds of sports.
“When he was six, he started cycling, then I enrolled him in proper basketball clinics, then eventually swimming at age of 8 over the weekends. At 9, he told me that he will just focus on swimming since he learned and developed so fast,” he said.
Currently, Edward Dylan is studying year 6 at Pristine Private School.
“He always prioritizes school and completes all his school assignments before going to school practice,” he said.
His son’s favorite subjects are Math and English.
“We always remind him that as of this time, school is always the top priority,” Choi added.
“We are very much happy and proud that he already won something at a young age, but we also don’t want to disrupt his growing experience, like playing as a normal kid hanging out with his non-swimmer friends, among others,” he said.
“Competitive sports training is very demanding and I think it is very hard for a 10-year-old to understand the pressure and expectations. I believe this will be a challenge for us parents on how to manage and stabilize the process,” he further added.
Edward Dylan aims to be the first Filipino Olympic swimming medalist representing the Philippines.
Apart from swimming professionally, he also plays piano. He learned to play the organ by watching tutorial videos online.
His parents’ dream for him is to find true happiness in life. They are a hundred percent positive that their talented kid will be successful in whatever he decides to do in life.
“We are always here to support him,” his parents said.