Nick Short (‘22) has always dreamt of continuing swimming and diving as a college student, but the commitment process wasn’t always easy. With a breaststroke record time of 56.28 seconds, Short was able to impress recruits. Recently Short was given the opportunity of committing to the University of Pittsburgh – division one – for swimming and diving.

The recruiting process wasn’t easy for Short, but he was able to stand out from others.

Short said, “I think what set me apart as a recruit was my ability to talk to adults and show how mature I was when having conversations with them.” Short was able to captivate recruits and impress them with his maturity and swimming ability.

While managing time with school and swimming seems like a difficult task to most people, Short is successful in his studies and athletics, “Managing school and swimming is not very difficult. At first, it was pretty difficult but after a few weeks, you start to get control of your time. You learn how to manage all your homework and find time to get sleep”.

With time management skills, Short was able to control how he spent his time and ultimately it paid off since now he can continue his both swimming and academic lifestyle. Short spends almost three hours daily practicing his swim, and once a week practices early morning. He spends time lifting weights at home or going to his local gym when he can.

Short’s strengths and weaknesses lie in his overall motivation and commitment to the sport, “My strengths I would say is my dedication to what I do is definitely super hard to keep doing so being dedicated to it helps me stay on track” for Short and any other athletes, keeping up with a sport and staying motivated to play it every day is what makes him diligent. Short finds that he has persistence and doesn’t give up when the sport gets difficult. His weaknesses include sometimes not wanting to leave his bed early in the morning to go to swimming practice.

Short was motivated by his family, coaches, and his own self-dedication, “I knew I wanted to swim division 1 so that was my motivation but also to attend a great academic college”. Overall, Short is glad to continue his academic and athletic commitment to the University of Pittsburgh.