The Last Goodbye: A Celebration Of Four Year College Athletes

Thanks to Sophia Segreti for contributing this story.

Surviving until graduation as a student athlete requires more than pure skill.

In a way Michael Phelps is every swimmer’s champion because he consistently brings attention and recognition to a relatively under appreciated sport. So when I (an ex-swimmer) saw that he was recently featured in Under Armour’s Rule Yourself campaign, I could not wait to watch the presumably inspiring “Go Swimming” advertisement. But Michael Phelps’ new ad is more than just the adrenaline filled, pump-up video we have come to expect from athletic apparel advertisements. Instead of focusing on triumph the ad depicts sacrifice. It shows pain and suffering and struggle. It shows not a powerful and victorious athlete, but an athlete that is hurting.

I couldn’t be a college athlete for all four years; I quit swimming after my sophomore year. My teammates who swam all through college just finished their competitive swimming careers. Most college athletes have been competing in their sport for at least a decade when they finally graduate. And then it’s over. Talking to a recently retired swimmer friend, I realized the two years since my own transformation from athlete to regular student have given me perspective on what it means to be a student athlete. My friend was struggling with the idea that this thing she had dedicated her life to up until this point was over and that was it. She hadn’t gone out in a bang of awards and accolades and so where was the value in being an athlete?

The value in being a student athlete is every winter break you had to train. Every night you didn’t go out because you had an early lift the next day. Every formal you missed because there was a game the next day. Every dessert you skipped. Every Advil you swallowed because you were too sore to move. Every test you had to take early because of a meet. Every time you couldn’t hang out with your friends because you had to get to sleep. Every hour of training you dedicated to your sport.

Michael Phelps’ ad perfectly captures the value in being an athlete: sacrifice.

Graduating as a four-year athlete, regardless how talented or decorated you were, is an extraordinary achievement because it shows that for four years you sacrificed bits and pieces of your life. Unlike any other obligation you could have in college, athletics consume your body and your time and your mental energy. That type of sacrifice deserves respect. Few people have what it takes to be a four-year varsity athlete because it requires you to make those sacrifices in an environment that encourages a selfish, careless, “answer only to yourself” lifestyle.

The ad ends with the words “It’s what you do in the dark, that puts you in the light.” Some student athletes, especially those at division three or academically challenging schools, may never get to the “light” (awards, national recognition, etc.) but every student athlete goes through the dark. Every graduating student athlete has made incredible sacrifices along the way. And that is something to be celebrated. So don’t question whether your college experience would have been better with more free time and less early morning practices. Instead, be proud you were a four year college athlete because it’s an amazing accomplishment few can achieve.

Sophia Segreti is a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in Marketing and Economics. Originally from the Maryland area, she swam for Rockville Montgomery Swim Club all through high school and swam for Washington University in St. Louis’s varsity team her freshman and sophomore year. Sophie enjoys writing and binge-able Netflix comedies and thinks dancing should count as exercise.