[Breeze]

Brett - College Swimming

The trip to Virginia was surprisingly easy...almost all limited access highway and with us leaving at night I was able to just set the cruise control for most of the trip. Even crossing over the mountains was pretty easy. On our way up Brett did receive a text from the coach letting him know that he had a family emergency that he had to leave for and would it be possible for us to arrive a little early on the 26th so he could spend more time with us. With that news, I made the full drive arriving in Abigdon around 12:30. We got up early to go to practice and arrived on campus around 6:30.

Brett has mentioned that he greatly enjoyed the trip and really like the school a lot. He's gone so far as to say if he swims in college he will definitely go to Emory & Henry, he just not sure if he wants to swim. Personally, I believe his girlfriend is holding him back more than he's willing to admit, but we will see how things play out. Here are a few bullet points from what we learned:

- Coach is young guy, who is very laid back and funny with the best interest of his swimmers at heart. Brett really liked him a lot.
- The men's team currently has only 3 swimmers (the 4th dropped out to focus on his academics) and they have a ways to go to be competitive in conference.
- The conference added 5 men's teams over the last 2 years so swimming is growing in the area
- About 100 kids will show up to watch at least part of the swim meets. (This is a huge number, many large schools won't get 100 kids to watch)
- About 40% of the student population at E&H compete on a school sports team
- There is a 9 hole golf course on campus that is free for the students to play
- They do have an ultimate frisbee team
- The pool has 3 garage doors next to it, so the coach will open the doors to let in fresh air as often as he can (in fact, during our morning visit he opened the doors and created a huge fog over the pool, so thick you couldn't see the middle of the pool from the end)
- The team requires 2 hours/week of study hall outside the coaches office
- Almost every class has a student instructor it in to assist if you are having problems
- The average class size is 11 (the largest is around 25, and the class Brett sat in on was 6 - and he thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and the teacher)
- Professors typically request personal contact information for all students so they can reach out to students who are struggling to make sure they get the assistance they need (the coach said that a person really has to try hard to fail out at E&H)
- The coach hires the lifeguards so Brett will be able to work an earn money on campus (the coach was also excited because Brett has his WSI certification so he can team swim lessons, and E&H often gets asked to provide this service to kids in the area)
- The dorms are in pretty good shape and they come in a number of different configurations (2/room community bath for each wing, Hotel style 2/room with a bathroom in the room, single occupancy with toilet in room but shower community, and town house with multiple bed rooms and bathrooms)
- The campus is gorgeous with the classic Virginia architecture - brick, columns, domes, etc.
- It is also very expensive, but they have a large amount of money to be distributed.

Brett has applied and we will see if we can afford it. Also, as mentioned above, he needs to determine if he wants to swim or not.