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?
I'll add one more anecdote, not swimming-related. My brothers-in-law all played hockey through college. My brother-in-law, Ray, has three boys who all played hockey through at least high school. They were always travelling all over the place, Minneapolis, Detroit, etc. My mother-in-law always thought it was a complete waste of time. "They'll never play in the NHL! Why are you wasting all your time, schlepping them all over the place?" (My mum-in-law has never been one to hold her tongue. :rolleyes:)
Young Ray currently plays D-1 hockey at UMass. His older brother, Kit, played at the University of Illinois. His younger brother, Nick, opted out in his senior year of high school. Will young Ray make it to the NHL? Who knows? The odds are obviously long-ish. That's just the nature of moving up the pyramid. Still, hockey got him to college. I tend to think he might not have made it to where he is without that hockey scholarship.
There are more ways to profit from a college sports career than hitting the pro sports lottery. Your naysayer needs to keep that in mind.
I believe strongly that young athletes should continue to pursue their sports as long as they love doing it.
This bright young woman should be exploring every opportunity available to her in college, which it sounds like she is doing.
You shouldn't need much ammunition to shoot down the idea of crapping on her dreams.
Then there is this tidbit of info from my Alma Mater:
"Duquesne University's swimming team was listed in the recently released College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division I Scholar All-America rankings, honoring all schools with a 3.00 or higher team grade point average. The Dukes were one of 150 Division I women's programs honored and were tied for 43rd in the nation with Arizona, Georgetown and Southern Illinois with a 3.42 team GPA."
Roughly translated: Swimming makes you smart :bolt:
I know I'm repeating what many others here have said, but swimming in college changed my life. It helped me learn how to balance my time (studying, swimming, working), how to set goals, and how to discipline myself. And I have brought these up in job and fellowship interviews. I now run an adult education program, and these are skills that we work on with our students. But more than anything, I got a great set of friends from the experience. We were absolutely a family to each other during that time, and now, almost 20 years after graduation, I am still close with many of my teammates. I wouldn't change that for the world. One word of warning: some college teams may not have the same close-knit-ness, and one of the reasons my sister stopped swimming was the internal team competition, which she found negative, so doing homework on the personality of the team can be important. Good luck to your granddaughter!
Just to add a quick note: I swam at Carleton College, a D3 school in Minnesota. I wanted to add that, because some D3 programs like this may be good, but less intense than a D1 school.
Besides... if she can keep her grades up, and enjoys swimming, she should swim. Life is too short to let something you love go just because one person thinks it's silly! (I still swim, and coach part time, decades after college!)
I can't begin to thank you for all this support! My eyes are watering. And the link to the article in fortune was great. I'm passing this along to my granddaughters mother for the naysayer. As a little side note she has her first official offer. Unfortunately it isn't from the school she is most interested in. But, she is excited and I couldn't be more happy for her. Hopefully, there will be more offers coming. Thanks everyone. This community is the greatest and says so much about swimmers.
I swam all four years D1 and still spend much of my life in the pool as a competitor. Many members have already described the benefits of swimming in college, so I'll just skip over that and tell you specifically where it helped me as it relates to my current profession in the IT services and solutions field.
- I was offered a position as a graduate assistant swim coach at another college, where I was able to get my MBA for practically nothing.
- I already had a full-time job lined up after getting my MBA, but I was looking for a better job. I applied to a dozen or so jobs after getting my MBA, but did not have any success. If they only knew me, I thought! I continued swimming with my home USA-S program, which occasionally allows adults to swim as well. It was there that I met a fellow adult swimmer who eventually hired me to work at his company after one interview. I guarantee that his comfort level with me stemmed from my positive training habits and demeanor in the pool.
- After several years, I ended up leaving that job (on friendly terms) and was hired by another company. My primary connection to the new company was through an individual who swam in college and briefly in masters. I never swam with this person and he knew my work ethic better than my pool habits, so the swimming relationship is less tenuous than the previous job. However, I still sensed a bond or some level of respect based on having the similar background.
It's impossible to say where I would be today if I never swam, but I have no regrets!
As a little side note she has her first official offer. Unfortunately it isn't from the school she is most interested in. But, she is excited and I couldn't be more happy for her. Hopefully, there will be more offers coming. Thanks everyone. Congratulations! This is cool news.
This community is the greatest and says so much about swimmers.For sure ... and that community will be another lifelong benefit to your grand-daughter.
