By Scott Marino, Senior Co-Captain

This week the Penn State swim team is working on a balancing act.  It's final exam week and there are a lot of final projects, papers, and exams that need to be completed before the end of the semester this Friday.  It is obviously an extremely important time for everyone to be at their best in the classroom.  Our team has set lofty goals academically and we are hoping to raise the team GPA even higher. In order to do so, everyone on the team has to put forth their best effort.  Everyone has to be performing well in the classroom while also excelling in the pool, which is a huge challenge. 

One of the biggest challenges of participating in college athletics is being able to manage your time.  With double practices, weights, and dryland workouts, it can be difficult to make sure you are making every class and getting all your work done.  Another obstacle is making up work when the team leaves campus for competition.  It's crucial to make up whatever is missed while we are away.  Something we encourage each other on the team to do is get a head of work while it is possible and also to communicate with teachers about the competition schedule.  By doing so, you can stay on top of the busy work load and seek out a professor's help if need be. 

During this finals week, it is important we are still getting work done in the pool too.  The team has put in a ton of great work so far this semester and achieved success at the recent Ohio State Invitational.  As we roll into Christmas training and our trip to Naples, Florida it is essential we are still giving our all in the pool.  There is no time to be simply satisfied, but it is also crucial that we are making sure that our class work and exams are the highest priority.  That makes this week a true balancing act.

This semester has surely been a busy one.  The team has constantly been at work and we are all looking forward to celebrating the holidays with family and friends at home.  We are also looking forward to a break from classwork and being able to train in the warmth of Florida, as State College seems has gotten dramatically colder in the last couple weeks.  With great opportunities ahead, the team is looking to create some positive momentum in the coming weeks as we roll into the second semester of the year.

Penn State Proud,

Scott Marino