Unfinished Business for Gamecocks Looking for Success at the Next Level
April 25, 2018
Their athletics careers at South Carolina may be over, but some student-athletes are not done being trained by their Gamecock coaches as they chase their professional and Olympic dreams. All-American swimmers Tomas Peribonio, Nils Wich-Glasen, and Akram Mahmoud, and diver Julia Vincent recently wrapped up their senior seasons with the Gamecocks, but the South Carolina coaches are still training them to succeed at the next level.
“Because of the level we compete and the athletes we bring in, not only do they want to be SEC Champions and National Champions, they want to be Olympians and Olympic gold medalists,” said head coach McGee Moody. “Our staff produces plans that not only foster NCAA success, but also creates an environment that always keeps our eye moving toward international and Olympic success. It’s that culture that we have here that brings some of the best athletes in the world into our program.”
Knowing that the staff is still committed to them speaks to the bond created between the coaches and the student-athletes.
“That’s what is super special about being here,” said Peribonio, who will be competing internationally for Ecuador. “They’re committed to you even when you’re not competing. They care about you further than just when you’re representing them. They know that when you go out and do well beyond here that everyone knows you are attached to this school.”
“During my senior year, I talked with the coaches about staying here after my season so I can train for the Olympics (2020) and the World Championships in 2019,” said Mahmoud, who competed for his native Egypt in the 2016 Olympics while still a student-athlete at South Carolina. “I’m really excited, and swimming with Tomas and (junior) Cody (Bekemeyer) is really going to help me a lot in achieving my goals in the next couple of years.”
Vincent competed in the 2016 Olympics for South Africa, while Wich-Glasen hopes to make his mark swimming for his native Germany.
“Julia hasn’t peaked yet with getting as good as she can get,” said head diving coach Todd Sherritt. “Four years isn’t really enough time to help someone win an Olympics. Just the fact that she has gotten as far as she has and finished twelfth in the world, it’s pretty amazing. It is an unfinished work. She was second on the one meter and third on the three meter at nationals this year. With her, you just know there is a lot more there.”
“It definitely means a lot to me because my coach has been with me for the last four years,” Vincent said. “He knows me really well, and he is the one who has helped me progress so quickly. It’s great to go into the next Olympics cycle knowing that I have his expertise and support behind my diving.”
When they graduate from here, we don’t want them to disappear.
Coach McGee Moody
Building that culture begins during the recruiting process.
“One of the things we talk about in recruiting is having that pride in having your home country’s flag on your cap and representing something bigger than themselves,” Moody said. “That helps us create that culture within our team of racing and competing for the Block C, which is something that’s bigger than themselves. It intermingles with the culture of being an Olympic champion and being a SEC and national champion.
“We plan them out in a four-year cycle, and if they are an Olympic-caliber athlete, we figure out what that needs to look like. In Akram and Tom’s case, they will graduate this year, so in a post-graduate setting, we have to have a plan for them to continue to train and to continue to compete. They want to remain with these coaches. They want to remain in Columbia and in this environment to prepare for Tokyo 2020. It’s our job to do that for them.”
“Finishing the job also has other repercussions because other people see what you’re doing, and they’re drawn to our school,” Sherritt said.
“I’ll be practicing here until 2020,” Mahmoud said. “That’s exciting because we have very high goals for Tokyo. I’m expecting a lot from myself in the next two years. I’m not a World Champion yet. That’s the first goal. Then in 2020, hopefully I can get one or even more than one gold medal.”
The message is not only that South Carolina is committed to helping its student-athletes achieve their dreams, but that the athletics department also wants the student-athletes to remain engaged with their University.
“When they graduate from here, we don’t want them to disappear,” Moody said. “It’s like that in any sport here. We want them to stay part of our university and our athletics department. This is a way for us to do that. Right now, they have to do very different things than our college student-athletes. There are different training schedules and expectations.”
Per NCAA rules, the former student-athletes can’t train at the same time as the current student-athletes, and the South Carolina coaches engage in varying levels of communication with each of the national team’s coaches.
“It’s usually a mutual agreement between our coaching staff, the student-athlete, and the national team staff,” Moody said. “A lot of times the national team staff will want us to go along with them because they may not have seen them for a year or two, so they want the continuity to be the same.”
While each has enjoyed tremendous success at South Carolina, those former student-athletes still have more they want to accomplish, and the Gamecock coaches will gladly help get them there.
“We have some unfinished business,” Peribonio said. “During my four-year career here, I saw some nice check marks that I wanted to hit. I’ve made huge improvements, and that’s opened doors for even more check marks for what I want to do. We’re just excited for the future; the coaches and me.”
“Having my coach by my side is one of the things that is crucial to my success because of how well we work together,” Vincent said. “We both have goals that we haven’t yet reached.”
