Nov. 5, 2015
By Michele Jaroszewski, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As the 2015-2016 season started for the men's and women's swimming and diving teams, one swimmer decided to bring something extra for head coach Tim Murphy.
Alyson Ackman, one of the three swimmers to participate in the 2015 Pan American games this summer, brought her bronze medal that she won with team Canada to provide a boost of confidence and aspiration for her teammates this season.
For Ackman, competing in her home country was a thrilling and motivating experience for the 2015-16 season. Upon finding out that she was taking home hardware for her efforts, all she could think about was the energy from the competition.
"I was a ball of excitement, I was kind of hurting still from the race, but it is just fun being up there with my team especially representing Canada," Ackman said. "The initial rush was being up there, having cameras on you taking your picture, I felt like it was paparazzi. It was a really cool experience."
Ackman said she didn't decide to give Coach Murphy her bronze medal until after she came back to Penn State. Though her initial plans were to place the medal with the rest of her Big Ten awards, Ackman felt that the medal would be a good representation of the program and all that it can do for the swimmers.
"Having them in [Coach] Tim's office kind of reminds me that this is Penn State that I'm training with, it's the coach that is really helping me achieve my goals and hopefully it reminds him that I have high goals for myself and high goals for this team," Ackman said. "I'm really hoping that the medals up there not only to show [Coach Murphy], but anyone who goes in there and sees them in his office, that we are an international competing team, and that we are all on the same playing field."
When first hearing about Ackman's accomplishment, Coach Murphy could not have been more proud.
"It's rewarding to get the news because you knows how much work, time and effort, and how much it means to them," Murphy said. "It's almost a secondary thing that they are Penn State, but from an individual standpoint you are just real proud of their accomplishment."
Murphy said that being able to swim at an elite pace at a given place and a given time is not easy. Seeing that Ackman could excel and contribute to a team effort means that much more to the growth of the squad.
"I get pretty fired up and experience pure joy when I watch an athlete that I've had the honor to work with to do something exceptional," Murphy said. "I've had the pleasure of having somebody medal in the Olympics and other international competitions, and I get the same rush every time it happens. It's the reward of watching somebody do something that they didn't know they could do or something exceptional that is the rewarding part. When it's on a larger platform I think what happens in that it gets noticed more, but I think the button that it pushes for me is the same."
Murphy added that no matter what the platform of the competition may be, the feeling is always the same. He appreciated the fact that Ackman wanted to share the medal with him and the rest of the team, proudly displaying them with the rest of his achievements.
The Nittany Lions will take on UConn and Princeton in their next home meet Nov. 13-14 at McCoy Natatorium.