One of the best parts of elementary school has to be the field trips.
Whether it was to the science museum or the fire station, those day-long escapes provided opportunities for young students to learn and grow outside of the classroom. Those opportunities still exist in college (maybe even more so), but without the need for a permission slip.
On Monday (July 20), members of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs took a field trip of their own to the University Musical Society (tabbed UMS, for short), which included behind-the-scenes tours of the historic Hill Auditorium and Burton Tower.
For head coach Mike Bottom, the trip served two purposes. First, he wanted to expose his teams to a different part of campus that they might have previously not known about, a ritual that began last year with a trip to the Bentley Historical Library. More importantly, he wanted his student-athletes to see similar programs of excellence, and how the people within those programs strive for it.
“The cost of achieving excellence is high,” Bottom said. “We want to give our student-athletes the opportunity to perform at the highest levels. In order to do that, it takes technical excellence all around. That’s what UMS has up here. We want them to appreciate excellence.”
Founded in 1879, UMS is one of the oldest performing arts organizations in the country — one year older than the university’s storied football program — and encompasses musical, theater and dance acts. On average, UMS will put on 85 performances every school year. They use nine venues across campus and in the city of Ann Arbor, including the Power Center, the Michigan Theater and Hill Auditorium.
One of the crown jewels of central campus, Hill was constructed in 1913. Today, it seats more than 3,500 people, more than Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington. Martin Luther King Jr. and famed author Maya Angelou spoke here. This October, the New York Philharmonic is scheduled to perform.
As the swimmers and divers milled about, they couldn’t help but be drawn in. Even when it’s empty, the sights are dazzling, from the illumination given off by the dozens of lights that align the tops and sides of the hall to the massive 8,799-pipe organ that’s impossible to miss.
More amazing than the sights are the acoustics, which words on this page cannot do proper justice. From the balcony, you can literally hear a pin drop on the stage below, as even the tiniest sounds reverberate throughout. To get the full effect, the team stood in the center of the stage, huddled up and shouted their pre-meet chant of M-I-C-H-I-G-A-N that echoed loudly throughout the space.
“You think they can hear it up there?” Bottom asked.
Tagging along was Frank Legacki, a member of the men’s swimming and diving team from 1959-61 and winner of three national titles. He encouraged the team to attend UMS events as a way to diversify their college experience, something he gained by working as an usher at Hill some 50-plus years ago. It’s because of those experiences that keeps Legacki coming back to this day.
“It opened up some new windows and created interests that I’ve had for my entire life,” he said. “It’s like eating pizza for the first time. If you like it, chances are you’ll have it again.”
For many, the highlight of the morning was a trip to the top of Burton Tower. In addition to a breathtaking 360-degree view of campus, the tower houses the Charles Baird Carillon, the third-heaviest set of tuned tower bells in the world. Here, the swimmers and divers learned one way in which UMS and athletics are connected, as the 55-bell, 43-ton carillon was donated by Baird, the university’s first athletic director.
Each team member had an opportunity to play the carillon, a device that looks like a very complex piano. If you were walking around central campus on Monday at noon and heard a series of tunes that didn’t sound quite right, now you know why.
At the end of the day, these swimmers and divers learned that the performing arts can be just as powerful as athletics. The individuals who perform as part of a UMS-sponsored production practice the same amount of hours — if not more — than athletes do. While their fundamental styles may be different, both student-athletes and performing artists strive to be the best at what they do, a concept not lost on senior diver Sarah Kamstra.
“For us, athletics is always at the forefront, but other people are doing great things, too,” she said. “We have to appreciate what other people are doing for our university. As athletes, it’s important that we acknowledge that because they’re representing us, as well.”
Bottom said that he was already planning for next year’s campus visit, potentially with the Museum of Art. In the meantime, he’s trying to carve out time to allow members of his teams the opportunity to attend UMS events throughout the year.
That won’t be easy to do given all the time demands that student-athletes face, but Kamstra, for one, is going to make a serious effort.
“So often we tend to stick with our friends and not get out of our little bubble, but this made me want to get to know others in my class better,” she said. “This is maybe the nudge I needed to take advantage of those opportunities.”
See the video below to see more of Michigan’s trip to the UMS:
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Excellent inspiration in excellence, coach Mike.