College Cup – Swimming
Ask any Vanderbilt University Medical Student about their favorite part of Vanderbilt and “College Cup” is bound to come up! It’s the most spirited time of the year for us. Vanderbilt University School of Medicine has four Harry Potter-like colleges: Batson, Robinson, Chapman, and Gabbe. These colleges serve as a source of community, especially during the first year, and also compete every October in “College Cup.”
This spirit of wellness and teamwork at Vanderbilt is definitely one of the things that makes it such a special place to go to medical school!
This year, I had the chance to serve as Captain of the Batson Swim Team. In High School I swam competitively, but was never the fastest swimmer on the team (or even close to it), and rather just enjoyed the workout that swimming provided as well as the fun of being on a team. Fast forward through college and the first two years of medical school, and I had forgotten my love of swimming and substituted this workout for more convenient trips to the gym. But when College Cup sign-ups rolled around this year, I signed up for the Batson swim team, deciding to use this as motivation to get back into swim-shape and to re-explore my long lost hobby. As a result I began swimming this year at the Vanderbilt pool after work.
Another awesome aspect of College Cup swimming was seeing how it could bring everyone together as a team! Faculty Affiliate Advisors (FAAs i.e. attending physicians) of Batson volunteered to swim any stroke we needed and other med students who swam competitively in the past volunteered to help the team as well. Although Batson didn’t win the swim meet, it was fun to come together to race and our energy at the swim meet was unbeatable.