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Nauman returns to her love of swimming By Merna Haridi One will always come back to something they’ve once hated. Erika Nauman was one who always hated swimming with a passion, and became involved in the sport once again after many years. Nauman, a teacher and girls swim coach at The High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology (HSTAT) was raised into becoming the best at a sport she never had interest in, swimming. She was put under so much tense pressure from her father, just to become the best at the sport. “I was under so much pressure from my dad,” stated Nauman, “I used to hate swimming so much!” Before Nauman learned how to walk, her father pushed her into the pool and held her mother and the lifeguard back and her only choice was to just keep swimming. At the age of 5, she started to take swim lessons and hated it because her dad gave her a huge push in order for her to be the best. When she was nine years old, she broke her arm, but her dad didn't give her a break. He got her a fiberglass cast to swim with and yelled at her forcing her to go to practice! After many years of swimming, she decided to go for something she had always wanted to do: theatre. But, she still thought something was missing. “Theatre was something I've always loved," said Nauman, “But, I missed swimming because when you do something for a while, you start to love it." It wasn't until she chose to swim, that she began to love it. Nauman went back to swimming for a couple of years then, quit at the age of 17 and started to work. Before she came to be the amazing teacher she is now and a responsible swim coach, she worked many jobs such as a bus driver, pizza delivery person, and a sales person. She worked when she still attended school to help in paying her school tuition. Nauman didn’t completely quit swimming; she took coaching certification programs in college. After 13 years, she became involved in the sport once again, being announced as head coach of the girls swim team, in 2003, at HSTAT, making this season her 7th one. "The way I coach is completely different from the way my coach coached me," stated Nauman. "I don't want my swimmers to be the fastest before learning the good swimming mechanics, the right nutrition, and having a positive self image and self-esteem." Not only did Coach Nauman choose to become a coach to show her passion for swimming, but because she believes she's pretty good at breaking things down. She gets a lot out of it and knows her swimmers do too. "My biggest achievement as a coach is my swimmers' happiness and sense of pride in themselves," said Nauman. "They learned to do it well." When Nauman sets one goal for herself to achieve, she achieves it because she believes its best to interact with others, being open, and living their lives. “My biggest goal is to help my swimmers be healthier, have more self-esteem, less stress, and confidence in their abilities to learn and master new skills.” said Nauman. “Be the change you see in the world.” Coach Nauman has proved to herself that she has the ability to continue doing what she loves and has inspired her swimmers to love the sport by building their confidence. “Ms. Nauman is crazy, amazing, and loves what she does,” said Aurora Bosma, captain of the girls swim team. “She tells every swimmer, ‘you can do whatever you want if you set your minds to it,’ because nothing is impossible to her.” “I was very surprised that so many girls didn’t know how to swim and now they do,” said Michelle Kurtz, co-coach of the swim team, “It shows me that Ms. Nauman is very dedicated to coaching and loves teaching the sport.” Even though Coach Nauman has an injury, a small tear in her rotator cuff, she swims daily, proving to herself and others that she really loves the sport and everything about it. She may finally give in and have surgery; however, she’s willing to try other things first. Nauman loves the fact that at first, the newcomer swimmers didn’t know how to swim and throughout the season they learned and came in 16th place in the whole city on the 200 Medley relay. To her, this accomplishment shows that she’s done a phenomenal job in coaching the girls swim team here at HSTAT.
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