My granddaughter has several colleges interested in her. She is very excited, however, there is a naysayer in the family. Every time my granddaughter brings up the subject in his presence he makes comments like, "Swimming isn't your life," or "It is a waste of time because it won't get you a job." If she says, "What if I want to be a swim coach?" He says, "Sounds like a hobby, not a job."
My question, what doors did swimming for a college/university open for you after graduation?
the naysayer needs to be told this is your granddaughter's life and she can live it how she wants. i bet he's got some resentment because of his circumstances in college. just because he went through something crappy doesn't mean that she needs to do the same thing and have a crappy experience too. let her do her own thing; let her live her own life how she wants. she's only 18-21 once, and she's got the rest of her life to work and make money.
also, swimming is something that has definitely helped me professionally. as an example, and to piggy-back on PWB's post, my current job's bosses commend my current athletic work as being an indication of my work ethic. when they hired me, they knew that I would give them 110% professionally, just as i would in the pool. they also continue to bring up my swimming (and hockey) nearly 3 years after hire.
clearly, granddaughter has her head on straight.
An alternate take, but still positive: I thought I would swim in college, but I was at the bottom of the recruiting class and sort of burned out, too. I ended up diving in to many other activities (art, music, drama) that took up plenty of time, so strictly non-academic pursuits became a really important part of college, just as swimming had been before. For me, that was the best decision I could have made. I had a fantastic college experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. (That said, about a decade ago I found my way back to the water, and am never getting out again!)
Now I am a professor at a D3 school, teaching in a very competitive, professional design program. I have always found the athletes to be among the most disciplined, most "together" students. It has become a pattern that as the program grows more intense–particularly senior year–some students hang up their cleats/goggles to focus on their work to a greater degree. (Creative work is sort of like sports: desire trumps everything, and often determines success.) I support whatever they want to do.
The point: nowadays college students suffer from over-determination: they often show up with a PLAN, often based on grossly inaccurate information or mistaken suppositions. Parents often lurk in the background. Things change, people grow, ideas evolve. If she wants to swim, she should! That decision will get made four times, year by year, and the calculation may shift over time. Whatever she wants to do, to explore, to poke around in, to reject: within the bounds of safety, she should! College is a time to learn and grow.
Mr. Naysayer should pipe down and let her find her own way, which will occur in stages, just as it should.
Forget the naysayer. If I listened to all of the naysayers back in 1976, I never would have gone on to college, or had the chance to swim for my college. I went to a school that was hard to get into, got in as a walk on a team that placed in the top 10 NCAA DII, and contributed to the team the whole time I was there. Those were the best years of my young life. My grades in college were higher than in high school. Motivation goes a long way and lasts a lifetime. She only has to listen to her heart and take it from there. Being on a team transfers over in life if you have the right attitude. Get her swimming on the college team of her choice that offers the major she wants! I only recently began to swim again back in August and I have the bug again and feel great.
I don't know that swimming in college opened any job doors for me specifically, but I second knelson's comment - my grades were markedly better in the semesters I was swimming.
"Swimming isn't your life," or "It is a waste of time because it won't get you a job." If she says, "What if I want to be a swim coach?" He says, "Sounds like a hobby, not a job."
Two-thirds of our planet is covered with water. Seems to make sense to me that one should practice safe and effective interaction with one's environment.
Dan
Thanks for all the continuing comments. They are great.
Rob, maybe I should point out that swimming limits drinking time. Maybe I should also show him the doping regs.
My granddaughter has several colleges interested in her. She is very excited, however, there is a naysayer in the family. Every time my granddaughter brings up the subject in his presence he makes comments like,
"Swimming isn't your life," or
"It is a waste of time because it won't get you a job." If she says,
"What if I want to be a swim coach?" He says,
"Sounds like a hobby, not a job."
My question, what doors did swimming for a college/university open for you after graduation?
First it sounds to me like Mr. Naysayer is a short sighted narrow minded A$$h@LE.
( please share this with him )
I swam for UT, most of the guys I swam with did well in school then went on to accomplish great things in life. Many earned advanced degrees. This small group of swimmers are now doctors, lawyers, business owners, engineers, military officers, authors, and many successful individuals in many areas. A decent percentage of the men and women I swam with at UT are now self made multimillionaires. Birds of a feather do flock together. It's wise for everyone to spend their time with dreamers and doers, focused passionate hard working people, not Naysayers & complainers who explain what can't be done and why.
The truth is:
if you think you can or
if you think you can't,
you're right.
College swimming gave me life long friends, a handful of people who've got my back and I've got theirs. Not many people work as hard or as long as swimmers do and when swimmers channel their work ethics into other fields, they tend to excel, because they set high goals and work harder and longer that most people do. Very often in just a matter of years, former swimmers tend to rise to the tops of their fields.
My life is forever better because I was lucky enough to swim for UT coached by Eddie Reese from 1981 to 1986. I highly encourage your grand daughter to make college swimming part of her story and to tell Mr. Naysayer to STFU, preferably with her life accomplishments after college swimming.
