Michigan Swimmer Matthew Kroll, Champion Gymnast Fred Richard, Battle in the Pool & Gym

In the world of NIL in collegiate sports, student-athletes are investing a lot of time, attention, and money into their online presences, trying to build personal brands that can be used to attract interest from sponsors.

A significant part of that has been athletes visiting other programs within their athletics departments and doing a sport-swap, trying to take on other athletes in what they do best – usually showcasing just how good those other athletes are at their sports.

Swimming has been a popular destination this year, and Michigan gymnast Fred Richard hit the pool to challenge Michigan sophomore Matthew Kroll both in the gym and in the pool.

Richard is the defending NCAA Champion on high bar, parallel bars, and all-around, and the NCAA runner-up on floor exercise. He’s also the World Championships bronze medalist on all-around.

Richard’s incredible athleticism gave him the win in round one, box jump, where he stuck a jump of his own height.

Richard then teaches Kroll to how to do a front flip and a back flip before the two moved on to the pool for a breath-holding contest and a freestyle race before Kroll teaches his compatriot the rest of the swimming strokes.

The two finish the video with some fun ‘underwater gymnastics’.

Kroll, a native of North Carolina, was a North Carolina private schools state champion in high school who specializes in IM and breaststroke events.