Oct. 9, 2015
By Michele Jaroszewski, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" After coming off of last weekend's tri-meet against Georgia Tech and Emory, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams showed more than just their Penn State pride. This season, the Nittany Lions have a total of seven international students, each one of them representing their own home around the world.
Senior Alyson Ackman, junior Taylor Cameron, and senior Matt Grillo are among the group representing Canada. Both Ackman and Grillo are from Quebec, while Cameron is from Ontario. Grillo remembers back to the acclimation when he was a freshman.
"It was an adjustment phase," Grillo said. "I knew it was something I wanted to do and I was pretty dedicated to getting acclimated to a new environment. It was tough to get used to at first, but it helped shape me as a person."
By being some of the upperclassmen in this group, they are used to the transition and are more than willing to help out any of the new teammates. Grillo said he likes to make himself a personal list of things he would have wanted help with and uses that for the incoming freshman.
"It was hard for me during my freshman year, especially with the culture and the language," said senior Melissa Rodriguez. "Everything was different with the training, and the school, and how people interact."
Rodriguez, along with teammate Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo, represented Mexico in the 2015 Pan American games. Rodriguez placed fifth in the 200-meter breaststroke. She currently holds the top mark for Penn State in the 200-yard breaststroke.
"It was fun, I had my other teammates [Gonzalez-Hermosillo] and I saw Alyson [Ackman] there," Rodriguez said. "We got to meet a lot of people from other countries, it was great."
As for freshman Machiko Raheem, being the new kid on the block comes naturally. Raheem said that she was born in Sri Lanka, but has moved to multiple countries, including Singapore and New Zeeland, making her used to getting to know other cultures.
"Penn State was different, it's college, it's not regular school," Raheem said. "I had to get used to the size of the place and the number of people. Everyone is friendly and the team has been very helpful."
After talking to multiple coaches, it was one of her sister's old coaches that recommended Penn State and influenced her final decision.
"He is the kind of person that once he says something, you know he's right," Raheem said. "I looked up Penn State and it's an incredible school both academically and swimming. I spoke to the coaches and they were really nice, and kind."
Things were a little different for 21-year-old Tomer Zamir. As an Israel native, Zamir spent three years in the Israel Defense Forces. Most of the recruiting done for Zamir was done through Skype conversations. So far, the transition from being in defense forces, to becoming a Nittany Lion, has been an overall good experience.
"I'm a freshman and only being here a month, I'm having a really good time," Zamir said. "All my friends seem like really good friends, even without being here for a long time." When it came down to choosing a school to continue his swimming career, deciding on Penn State and transiting here was simple.
"The recruiters helped me with everything before coming over [to the United States,]" Zamir said. "I knew that Penn State was a good school and that made the choice easier for me."
"I think they add to what we are doing from our program's standpoint," said head coach Tim Murphy. "They're good students, good athletes and are committed. They add value to our program."
Coach Murphy spoke highly of the international swimmers, seeing the way they are prepared to come to practice and compete in the meets is a pleasure to work with. Murphy said that after the teams' last meet, the thing to look forward to and work for is postseason during the latter stages of the season.
"It's more of a work in progress thing," Murphy said. "Of course we want to beat people at meets, but we are looking more at a standpoint of training."
Murphy said that he is looking forward to next week's meet against Virginia Tech. This will be the first home competition of the season for the Nittany Lions.
"We'll see how we react to being at home and to a competitive standpoint," Murphy said. "We'll try to develop the pieces of the puzzle and at a certain point in the season, we will be putting those pieces together."