Senior Nick Chang has been chosen to be the Student Athlete of the Week for the week of December 3, 2012.
Chang began swimming lessons at the age of three and after constantly insisting to his parents, he began competitively swimming at nine years old. He has been swimming for the McIntosh Varsity team since he was a freshman, in addition to swimming for the Peachtree City Pirates during the past seven summers.
His parents have been a significant influence on his swimming career. Chang said, “At least one of my parents has been to nearly all, if not every single one of my swim meets, and they have always encouraged me to do my best and achieve my goals, especially if they knew I was working hard.” With the strong support in his family, Chang has the backing to be successful in his swimming career and elsewhere. However, he said his coaches have influenced his work ethic. Chang said, “Even when I’m not feeling my best, it’s important to work hard because that success will transfer into meets, and into life in general.
With the many years of swimming, Chang has many memories from his long career. When asked about the craziest thing a coach has done though, he replied, “When I was 10, a coach once told us to swim 5000 yards (200 laps) without stopping. After about 4 or 5 laps, he started pulling people out of the water to see how long it would take for the remaining swimmers to notice. As around the 5th-to-last person pulled out, I definitely didn’t find it as funny as I do now.”
Chang said he hopes that this season will be his favorite season since it’s his last year of swimming ever. “We have a great team this year and have already beaten Starr’s Mill once and are working towards beating them a second time at the County Meet in late January,” said Chang. His goal since he was a freshman was to make an individual State cut and it has already been achieved, but he’s hoping to go out of McIntosh with a bang.
One of the unforgettable memories of Chang’s swimming career is when he asked a girl to prom through a swim meet. However, when asked about his favorite memory, he said, “I think having swam in the State meet for 4 years in the Georgia Tech pool, the very same pool which the 1996 Olympics were held in, is probably the crowning moment of my swimming career.”
Although swimming has been a significant part of his life, Chang said, “I don’t wish to pursue it into college.” Instead, he dreams to go to Stanford or Georgia Tech to receive a degree in Chemical Engineering. Change said, “I’m taking one step at a time though, so I don’t have any plans for graduate school yet.”
Chang’s dream job is to have one where is he a head engineer for a company like Coca-Cola. “Completely unrelated to my prospective major though, I would enjoy working in the television or sports industries.” He is also leaning towards living in California for his residence when he is older.
