To Learn Or Not To Learn - A Personal View

By Rhi

Senior year of high school; one of the most fun and stressful years of your life. Parties, pushing around freshmen, big-time pranks, but most importantly, applying for college. Most kids are just looking at places that have good to great academics and are in the general area they want to live. Elite athletes not only have to worry about these things but also, is the team good? Are the people on the team a good fit and will they get along with the coach? A good athlete may have known where they wanted to go to college all their lives, just to visit and realize that they hate the team they will have to compete for. Others might think it is the perfect fit and realize too late that they were wrong. Does college really have to be the next step for the elites after high school? All you parents out there, DON’T KILL ME!

There has been much talk lately on swimming forums about Amanda Weir and if her decision to go pro was the right one. People have called her decision to leave USC to train at home with Swim Atlanta “quitting”. There have been examples about how she left UGA and now USC as well. People are frowning upon this and making it seem like Weir is ruining her life. What say college was not the right choice for her in the first place? Maybe she was content where she was at Swim Atlanta but society was indicating that college was the next step. Who is to say that staying where she was comfortable and succeeding is wrong? Now, I am not here to say what is right and wrong for Amanda Weir. I am simply using this as an example.

Before I left for college, I was a pretty successful swimmer; in my eyes at least. Granted, I had no individual Olympic gold medals to boast, but my times were top 20 in the world in the years running up to the Olympics. I was fortunate enough to have found a coach whom I really got on great with. He really knew how to get me to succeed. In the four years leading up to Athens, I only missed six practices. Swimming was fun! After World Championships in 2003, I talked to my parents about what was to come in the next few years. I wanted to stay in Florida with my coach and find someone to sign with, even if it was not for a lot of money. I was happy where I was and I was successful. My parents had a different opinion. They wanted me to go to any college I wanted for free! A free education and education was of the utmost importance. I took one trip to USC to appease them. I liked it well enough, and signed a letter of intent just a few short weeks later. I was going to be an NCAA swimmer, but not for too long.

My first year of college, I screwed up. I screwed up big time; big enough for me to miss my first NCAA championships. I didn’t go to class, I didn’t study. I just didn’t want to be at school. After messing up my first semester and being chewed out by everyone, I realized I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going anywhere. I decided to not attempt to spite my family for making the college decision for me, and try to make the best out of my situation. I started studying and worked hard in the pool, and by the beginning of February of my sophomore year, I was finally swimming well and doing well in school again. Until news came that would ultimately make my decision about not wanting to be at school anymore final. Mark Schubert was leaving USC for a position at USA Swimming. Of every coach I had met over the years, the only one I wanted to swim for other than my club coach was Mark Schubert.

Summer came, and by then my love for swimming at USC had diminished greatly. Things didn’t have the same “go hard or go home” attitude. I ended up spending most of my summer at home in Florida, miserable with mono, but it helped me to realize where the people that loved me most and wanted me to succeed were. I remember my Mom telling me she was so sorry she coerced me into choosing college as my path. I knew I needed to be back where I was comfortable and supported to succeed.

I guess what I am trying to get at with this is “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. If an athlete is succeeding where they are, why change? Look at the swimmers like Katie Hoff and Kate Ziegler. Granted, I’m no Katie Hoff, but I hope to be on that level. And what about education? I’ve been in classes with 40 year olds before. Education will always be there, the Olympic dream might not.