By Makenzie Miller, Swimming World College Intern
This past spring, I watched several of my friends and teammates hang up their googles for good and embark on a new chapter of life. It made me wonder what it would be like not to have swimming as part of my regular routine…no more morning workouts, no more reeking of chorine, and no more adrenaline rushes before a race.
To hear how one former swimmer has adapted to life after swimming, I caught up with my old high school legacy, Colleen (Haase) Hall.
“Swimming was an important part of my life for a long time, but I was ready to move on. I finally had the time to do things I was never able to do before,” Hall told me.
Hall had been swimming since the age of 4, starting out in a summer league in a little neighborhood called Flower Valley in Rockville, MD. It had been so much fun that she wanted to do it all year long and began competing with the Rockville Montgomery Swim Club.
Photo Courtesy: Colleen Haase
An Inspiration Then and Now
Hall was already in college at the University of Georgia when I began my freshman year at Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD, but she had left behind an impressive record. She was a scholastic All-American, held the state record in the 200 breast, and broke the Washington Metro and National Catholic School records in the 100 breast during high school.
The accomplished athlete was an inspiration to me and my school teammates including sister Sarah Haase, Jack Conger, Catherine Mulquin and others.
Hall also had an equally impressive swim career as a Bulldog. She was a Division I All-American in the 100 breaststroke, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier, UGA school record holder in the 100 breast, and an SEC scholar athlete.
Now, four years later and a fifth grade math and science teacher living in Atlanta, Hall recalls, “Swimming taught me how to truly work hard and not give up.”
She credits her parents, Bruce and Eileen Haase and Coach Carol Capitani for providing the confidence and motivation which drove her to put in the necessary work to achieve her goals.
“They motivated me in different ways, but all essentially reminded me to have fun with it and not take it too seriously,” Hall said.
As a teacher, she applies the same approach in the classroom with her students. She sets high expectations for them and tells them that she believes they can be met.
“I teach my students that it is okay to fail,” Hall said. “Failures happen to everyone, but that is not a reason to give up. I had many terrible meets in my career, but I had to make sure that they didn’t affect my attitude or determination.”
Photo Courtesy: Pierre Voille
One of the Best Takeaways from Swimming
Hall admits that she does not miss the morning workouts and recalls having to plan her schedule around naps so she wouldn’t fall asleep in class. In bed by 9 p.m. most nights, Hall said she didn’t go out nearly as much as most college students.
What Hall does miss is being around her best friends every day. On the swim team at Georgia, she made some lifelong friends.
“All of my best friends are either swimmers or people I’ve met through swimming,” Hall said.
This would include her husband Shane, another former UGA swimmer and teammate, and her biggest supporter. The two were married in 2014 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico with 56 persons attending the wedding– over half of those in attendance were swimmers.
“Being on a team together, you build the type of friendships where you can go years or longer without seeing each other, and when you get back together, it’s like nothing has changed,” Hall said. “You’re right back to where you left off.”
Today, Hall spends time doing things she couldn’t do when she was swimming– traveling, cooking, reading, running programs at her school and attending grad school.
For me, heading back to college for my sophomore year, I can’t imagine a world without swimming in it. Still, I wonder how I may feel three years from now…lost and searching for something to fill the void or excited and ready to take on new challenges.
Either way, I know that lessons learned from my years in the pool have prepared me well for wherever life takes me next.