By Justine Ress, Swimming World Intern
Brittney Phelan committed to swim at Indiana University back in 2010. She had been swimming for over a decade, and was looking for a Division I swimming experience at a large state university, or so she thought. After two years of swimming at IU she decided to retire. She ended up graduating from Indiana and moving back home to North Carolina.
Shortly after moving home, she enrolled in graduate classes at Queens University in Charlotte, NC. After a little bit of volunteer coaching for Queens, she is now back in the water competing.
I talked to Phelan about her personal experiences at both Indiana and Queens. After all, it’s not every day you hear of someone going from a top-ten Division I program to a small school, Division II team.
An Early Retirement
“I stopped swimming at IU because I felt like I was not getting the appropriate training for me,” Phelan said. “Every individual is different and personally, I get burned out easily. I made the executive decision to stop swimming for my own happiness. I wanted to get more involved at IU and enjoy my last few years of going to school there without being miserable.”
Phelan told me that going into college she wanted a team that would stick together through thick and thin; a team that resembled a family. That was what her high school swimming experience was like. Granted, Phelan had a tremendous amount of success while at IU. She was a part of a Big Ten Championship-winning team, she scored at the Big Ten level and improved upon her best times. But after talking with Phelan, I got the sense that she was looking for more than just swimming fast in college.
“Because IU is such a huge school, I felt like it was a less personal experience for me right off the bat and more about me trying to fit in,” Phelan said.
Of course she loved the university enough to finish her degree and still keeps in touch with many of the people she met there. However, in terms of swimming, Phelan was searching for an entirely different experience.
She never thought she would pick up swimming again after quitting at IU. But she did have a feeling that she never quite met her goals in the sport.
“I was disappointed in the fact that I had stopped, but I was so ready to be done swimming at Indiana. My only choices were to either transfer or just stick it out and finish school at Indiana’s beautiful campus. The only thing that kept me sane and OK with retiring from swimming at the time was that I missed my Olympic Trial cut by .01 seconds…twice.”
Queens Opportunity
After moving to North Carolina in 2014, Phelan was looking for new post-graduate education opportunities which led her to Queens University.
“I started taking classes at Queens and after noticing a few swimmers in my classes, I learned that the school had a Division II swim team. I immediately called the head coach, Jeff Dugdale, to tell him I was in Charlotte and would love to volunteer coach. I still had a bitter taste in my mouth with swimming and wanted to overcome that with coaching and learning about swimming from a different perspective,” Phelan said.
After just one day of coaching at Queens, Phelan rediscovered her love and passion for the sport. She even describes that day as “one of the most life-changing experiences” she’s ever had.
Photo Courtesy: Queens University
Not long after she started coaching, Dugdale asked her how many years of eligibility she had left and offered her a spot on the team. Without any hesitation she started swimming again.
“There are so many things I have realized swimming at Queens. One of the biggest things is that having a staff and a team that believes in you and what you can do can make a world of a difference. It’s an amazing feeling to find that perfect fit within a school and a swim team,” Phelan said.
Queens University undoubtedly has a different training approach than IU or many other D1 programs. They take on a different training approach, a different mentality and they often compete against smaller schools. Phelan admitted that at the age of 23, knowing what she has learned from all of her experience, that these are the things that make her happy in the pool.
Hungry for More
Now, heading into championship season and this summer, Phelan is determined to get those Olympic Trial cuts.
“My main goals now are to final at Division II NCAAs and to make trials– whereas, at IU I never even got to compete at NCAAs. I also want to go best times. I’m very confident in these goals considering I’m already going faster in-season than ever before and I’m happier, stronger and more committed,” Phelan said.
During my talk with Phelan, she couldn’t stress enough that just because Division I didn’t work out for her, doesn’t mean that’s the case for everyone. She went into college thinking if she went D2, she wouldn’t get the specific coaching she wanted. However, that is not the case for her anymore.
She admits, “At Queens, I swim with elite athletes and I am trained by elite coaches. Swimming at Queens makes the sport fun for me again. I am never miserable at practice because I feel the workouts directly benefit me every day.”
Phelan and I discussed how difficult it really can be to decide on not only a college, but also a swim program. And how at the end of the day, D1, D2 or D3, all that matters is your own happiness, especially in such a tough sport.
“You don’t realize in high school that there is an incredible amount of science and strategy behind the sport of swimming which is why it is so hard to choose a school at 18 years old. I wish I would have done my research my senior year of high school. But everything happens for a reason. And I am so happy with the sport of swimming and have fallen in love with it all over again.”
I had a similar experience as a male at a competitive Big Ten program. Practices were in no way catered to individuals. My high school coach knew exactly what I had and what I needed, despite seeing me for half as many workouts per week for less than half as many weeks per year.
Plus, coaches did not seem to be on the same team as three swimmers. We were constantly hard as sed without good reason. Coaches had the “stick it to you” mentality rather than the “we are in this together” kind of thing. I wish I had continued sinning elsewhere.
I had a similar experience as a male at a competitive Big Ten program. Practices were in no way catered to individuals. My high school coach knew exactly what I had and what I needed, despite seeing me for half as many workouts per week for less than half as many weeks per year.
Plus, coaches did not seem to be on the same team as three swimmers. We were constantly hard as sed without good reason. Coaches had the “stick it to you” mentality rather than the “we are in this together” kind of thing. I wish I had continued swimming elsewhere.
Oh I see you Lillian Gordy
Jenny Stephenson. Interesting perspective from one college swimmers experience.
Lou Ellen Glafenhein. Is this where Christopher is?
Yes, Amy Caughron Hudson and he love LOVES iiiitttt!!! They were Div2 national champs last year at NCAAs. Chris has made a NCAA cut. TNAQ prepares them so well for college swimming!
By the way, so far, the academics are excellent.
Well, I for one am happy to see you on the Royals team. See you in Indy.
Her name is spelt two different ways in the title of the article and in the article itself.
Thank you for catching that! It’s been updated.