Aimee Iwamoto was an undergraduate senior when the University of Idaho women’s swim and dive team received the Scholar All-American Award for the 13th consecutive semester this spring.
“Team wise, I’m extremely proud,” Iwamoto said. “We were able to do this because of our team environment, prioritizing academics over athletics, always.”
Iwamoto majored in mathematics and swam breaststroke and individual medley for the team. Iwamoto said the team’s shared experiences in the pool were the foundation of their ability to thrive together rather than separately. Many athletes on the team shared overlapping courses of study, predominantly in STEM programs.
“If you look at what (STEM majors on the team) were doing, you would see we worked hard for everything,” Iwamoto said. “Math, not easy. Science, not easy. We were always busy working (or) working out.”
Iwamoto said her teammates would take time to meet outside of practice to assist in each other’s studies. This was encouraged by Head Women’s Swim and Dive Coach Mark Sowa and the coaching team, Iwamoto said.
“I mean, all my four years were great experiences, but that was because we had such great coaches and other girls on the team to look up to,” Iwamoto said. “Then I was a senior. And now, (the senior teammates) were the leaders and we did such a good job in the pool and in the classroom. That example or expectation trickles down to the freshmen.”
As a freshman at UI, Iwamoto she said she knew what to do and how to act because of the leaders on the team she looked up to.
“We had this heathy competition that was mostly about helping each other,” Iwamoto said. “It was like ‘hey, I want to get better and I want to help you get better,’ so we just pushed each other, win or lose.”
Sowa went out of his way to keep the swimmers focused on their academics, making the team’s practice schedules as flexible as possible around scholastic activities, Iwamoto said. Sowa and the university’s treatment of Iwamoto as a potential athlete during the recruiting process was what convinced her to become a Vandal.
“Other schools just cared about times and races, not me. But I could tell (UI) cared for me more as a person than just a swimmer,” Iwamoto said.
Halfway through her schooling, Iwamoto switched her major from education to mathematics. She tried to convince herself she was committed to a degree in education, but after talking with her coaches, she made the switch.
This trusting relationship with coaches is what the Vandal graduate attributes her course of study change to. Iwamoto recalled a conversation with her coaches about the change.
“They asked me what I wanted and what I wanted to do well in, so I knew they cared about my reallife success, not just as an athlete,.” Iwamoto said.
The emphasis on “real-life success” from her coaches and teammates both in and out of the pool resulted in a universal success strategy she still uses today as she pursues her MBA at Washington State University.
“I’m glad that part of my life is over, swimming competitively,” Iwamoto said. “I’m so grateful for getting to swim for UI, but now I can focus on what’s important to me now, what I want to succeed in.”
Rebecca Pratt can be reached at [email protected]