Senior Jared Anderson is a captain of the University of Minnesota swim team, currently ranked number 14 in the country. From February 27 to March 2, Anderson and his teammates competed in the 2013 Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Bloomington, Indiana, coming in fourth; Anderson took fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Both as a junior and a sophomore he received Academic All-Big Ten recognition. A double major (English and Journalism) with a minor in German, Anderson was awarded the Donald V. Hawkins Scholarship and Sharon Borine Scholarship from English. He blogged for GopherSports earlier this year about the swimming and diving team's training trip to Hawaii (give swimmers a day off, they go shark diving). Read on . . .1. In high school, you were Minnesota State champion in the 100 breaststroke. Last summer you won your U. S. Olympic Trials heat in the 100 breaststroke and placed 31st overall in the event. Why keep swimming?
What I love most about swimming is how it stretches you. It's an awesome feeling being able to set high goals that seem impossible, then being pushed by teammates and coaches to put in the work to get there, and finally seeing yourself moving closer and closer to those goals. I also love that swimming transports you to your own world--it's kind of peaceful underwater, and you get to escape everything else for a bit, even if the swimming itself is hard work. I'm definitely planning to continue swimming through the U.S. Open this coming summer, and my dream is to swim another four years until the 2016 Olympic Trials. Swimming at the Trials last summer was the most fun swimming experience of my life. They had crazy things like flames shooting up from the pool deck and an elaborate light show. I'd absolutely love to swim in a meet with that kind of atmosphere and that kind of pressure again.
2. How do you balance high-level involvement in a Division 1 sport with studying?
The toughest part is just the time factor. We practice 20 hours a week, usually about three and a half hours a day, and the physical training can be exhausting enough that it becomes hard to mentally engage with homework, especially when you're writing a paper or a journalism story where you really want the creativity to be flowing. (On the other hand, the University does a lot to help us balance it too. We've got this great study facility in the Bierman Building with computers and free tutors that makes things a lot easier.) I just try to budget my time the best I can so that I can get some blocks of relaxation in between practice and school. It's pretty important, for me at least, to have a fresh mind when I tackle schoolwork or swim practice. I suppose it's pretty typical for an English major to like reading, and I definitely do some pleasure reading to de-stress. I like to write some non-academic stuff for relaxation, too, like blogs, short stories, and flash fiction-type pieces. I play video games every now and then, but not a ton. I like to watch a good film when I've got the time, or even read a classic script, and I'm slowly working on a screenplay of my own, just for fun.
3. What English classes stick out for you as particularly memorable?
I really enjoyed the Screenwriting course. It was different to look at something like film that's so present in everyday life, but to break it down as a piece of writing. I felt like I learned a lot about story in general, and it made me think a lot more about being concise but impactful in writing. I also loved the 3000-level Shakespeare course, because I just loved his writing, and it was cool to read some of his lesser-known works in a group setting.
4. You're clearly interested in writing, with English and Journalism as majors. What have you learned about writing from English classes--and what from Journalism?
The biggest thing Journalism is teaching me is to be concise. A lot of the time the English major in me comes out, and I want to be really wordy, but in newswriting you've got to be able to say a lot with a few words. From English classes, I'm really learning how character-driven fiction in particular is. If the reader doesn't connect with the characters at some level, then anything else you're trying to do with the text, thematically or whatever, just doesn't really land. And I guess the same goes for writing journalistic pieces, especially in magazines, which is what I'm looking to go into. You've got to really capture your subject's character for readers to want to engage in the story.
5. Last really good book you read?
I read the newest novel from my favorite author, Ted Dekker, called The Sanctuary. It was about a reformed serial killer and this huge struggle between love and legalism. And then I read The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis, which I thought was a pretty unique look into value systems and the progress of human civilization.
