Well-Traveled Hendrik Faber Found a Home with the Gamecocks
In Hollywood, Hendrik Faber might be tabbed as the “International Man of Mystery” or compared to a commercial character as “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” In reality, the South Carolina graduate student swimmer is an outstanding student-athlete who speaks five languages, has lived in 13 countries, and is juggling athletics and earning his master’s in international business from one of the top academic programs in the country.
“There’s a saying that ‘home is a feeling, not a place.’ I think that applies to me,” Faber said. “Right now, the United States is home. I spent four years in North Carolina and my fifth year here. It’s the longest I’ve ever spent in one place.”
Faber’s father, who was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), is a petroleum engineer and has had to move around the world while drilling for oil, which lands him in various places for as little as two months and up to several years at one time. Faber was born in the small Southeast Asian country of Brunei, but that was only the start of his travel.
“It’s a super-small country,” Faber said. “I don’t know how long I was there, but I soon moved to Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. Then Louisiana. Then I went to the Netherlands, China, and a spree of basically every country in Southeast Asia, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia. I also lived in Australia for a while. Then I went to Japan.
“I speak five languages: Dutch, English, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. If I talk to my godfather, I will think and talk in Japanese. If I talked to my dad, it would automatically switch to Dutch.”
Moving around so much as a child wasn’t easy. He hasn’t had a problem adjusting to different diets and cultures, but there are other challenges.
“People always ask me, ‘where are your friends?'” Faber said. “It’s been difficult. It was just me and my dad. The fact that I went to boarding school helped a lot. That meant that I was stabilized. Going to boarding school, I always a had a group of friends for three or four years at a maximum. Being on the national swim team at home (the Netherlands) helped, and my swim club helped. One of my teammates, Jordan (Yip Zhu Erm), I’ve known since I was seven. That was one of the reasons I looked at South Carolina in the first place. Swimming was a steady base of keeping in touch with people. I did a lot of open water swimming, which is swimming 10 kilometers in the ocean. I always had a base, but at the same time, you can’t always expect a kid to stay in touch with the friends he had when he was six.”
“I saw the International Business program was one of the best in the world, so that really drew me in.”
Faber started his collegiate career at Queens University in Charlotte where he earned several All-America honors and helped the Royals win three NCAA Division II national championships.
“The United States is the only place where you can compete collegiately and study,” Faber said of his desire to come to the U.S. “The Netherlands has a great education system, and I would probably pay near to nothing there, and I would get a great education. But I would have to choose between my academics and my swimming. I looked at many other colleges, but Queens offered me the most (scholarship) money and I had a great interaction with the coach. It was a small school, and I’m not great in large crowds.”
Faber after meet with Queens
He double-majored in business administration and marketing and earned his undergraduate degree from Queens before coming to South Carolina to not only continue his athletics career, but also to be a student in the renowned International Business program.
“I didn’t really want to leave Queens because I basically had a family there, but then I saw that the University of South Carolina had a great marketing program,” Faber said. “I saw the International Business program was one of the best in the world, so that really drew me in. My coach at Queens talked to (South Carolina head coach) Jeff (Poppell) and it worked out. I really enjoy it here.”
As luck would have it, South Carolina swam a dual meet against Queens this fall, with the Gamecocks winning 141-121 and Hendrik placed second in the 400 individual medley, third in the 500 freestyle, and fourth in the 1000 free style. While he has done well in the pool, Faber is also focused on his life out of the pool.
“I might be good at swimming, but I’m no Michael Phelps,” Faber said. “I’ve competed with the best swimmers in the world. This year the goal is to do well at SECs, qualify for NCAAs, and perform really well and then qualify for the World University Games. Then I think I’ll hang up my goggles and cap.
“I have an extreme passion for marketing and everything international. I really want to do something with marketing/customer relations and something that has an international aspect.”
Faber enjoyed surfing growing up, and he spends some of his free time now playing the guitar. As he prepares for a future in international marketing, he’s not exactly easing up on his education and he is learning a sixth language, German.
“I’m trying my best, but with all of the other languages, I was always immersed in the culture where everyone was speaking it around me,” Faber said. “I don’t know any Germans here, so it’s a bit different. I’m still trying!”
