By: Samantha Witte, Staff Writer
At the age of nineteen, most sophomores come back to school finally adjusted and ready to begin a new year. This is the prime time for students to really get into their major, and start focusing on who they want to be and what they want to do. They have made it through their first year, which most likely brought many overwhelming and anxious feelings along with a great deal of change and challenges. Some students come from areas that are close to home, and others travel quite a large distance. Imagine traveling far, but also seeing the college you chose to attend for the first time the day you arrive, entering into a brand new culture entirely, speaking a primary language different from the one that is spoken at school, searching for excellent academics, and aspiring to become a successful athlete. This sounds like quite the challenge. This is the exact sort of challenge that Nicole Weber was willing to take on in the pursuit of a well-rounded collegiate career.
Weber is a sophomore on the Women’s Swimming team here at Saint Leo. She is from a town called Konz, which is a town found all the way in Germany. This is quite the journey, which naturally provokes the intriguing inquiry of how exactly she found out about Saint Leo. Weber said she “just tells the community that she wants to go to America, and they find schools for her.” At this point it shaped up to be a perfect match for her and Saint Leo. “They needed a breast stroker, and that was my favorite stroke. I skyped the coach a lot, and thought he was really nice,” says Weber. She seemed very happy with her decision, and she has found a lot of success while being here. She was recently named the Sunshine State Conference Swimmer of the week for her fourth time during this season. Along with this, she holds the school records for the 200 individual medley, 400 individual medley, 100 breast, and 200 breast. In addition to this, just in case that was not impressive enough, she shares the records for the 200-medley relay and the 400-medley relay. It may have been a tough challenge first coming here, and being so far away from home, but Weber has managed to come in and dominate, all while still being so young.
Along with this talent comes, a strong mindset and passion to accomplish all that she has. “I started swimming when I was five, and I couldn’t swim very well. My mom was afraid for me to try. Then I kept swimming with my friends, and I keep going,” says Weber. It has become more than just records for Weber. She has been able to find the joy of the sport, along with the drive to become the successful athlete that she is today. She has come in with the same dream of success that many other athletes come in with, and her only goals at this point are to beat her own records, as well as have fun and do well as a team. Weber is a very team oriented individual, although swimming contains individual aspects. This team is currently working very hard in preparation for the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Championships. When asked what she was most excited about going into this big meet, she simply says with a smile on her face “ I’m pretty excited because it’s with the team, and the best event of the year.” The event she looks forward to the most is the relays because of the team aspect as well. She is still focused on performing her best in all events, but it is amazing to see such a team oriented individual in a sport that can become very personal as well. Her perspective is a very humble one, that demonstrates caring more about the team than her own personal records. I believe this also shows a lot about the swim program, and Saint Leo as a whole. Both of these are all about working together to accomplish goals as a team, which will then also reflect positively for each individual. A team that works together well with average talent can beat a team of selfish all-stars any day. Then, if you are able to get a team of very talented individuals to work well together as a team, you have an unstoppable team. This is the type of team that I believe the Women’s swim team has been able to form.
Aside from the swimming, it is amazing to highlight some of the things that makes Weber unique as a person. It is easy to forget that she does more than just swim, since she has devoted a lot of time to being in the pool. She loves the color pink, pasta is easily her favorite food, and she listens to “anything that is on the radio.” Her favorite animal is a dolphin and, her favorite movie that she saw recently was When the Game Stands Tall. In the small amount of free time that she is able to find while being a student athlete, you can find her hanging out with friends or shopping. Weber is an amazing individual, with a love for her team, and a strong drive to succeed.
