Every August, just as University of Akron (UA) students are arriving for the fall semester, Zips women’s swimming and diving Head Coach Brian Peresie takes his team off campus.
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The team heads to Camp Muskingum near Carrollton, Ohio, where they spend a weekend sleeping in tents, cooking meals outside and completing outdoor activities. It’s always a fun weekend, but for Peresie there’s a greater importance to the trip than just a weekend away. It’s the start of creating a home-like atmosphere for a group of student-athletes and coaches who come from all over the world, with a huge range of life and swimming experiences, who must work together as a team in just a few weeks.
“The trip is always a unique experience and sometimes there’s a fear factor to some of the activities that we do,” Peresie said. “But everyone supports each other, and it becomes a positive experience. The more opportunities we create for them to be together outside of the pool, the stronger the relationships on the team are going to be when we’re in the pool.”
The team recently won its 10th Mid-American Conference championship in the past 11 years, so it’s clear that the bonding experience early in the academic year strengthens team dynamics and fosters an atmosphere of success — something that all UA coaches and teams strive to do.
More than one-third of the UA swimming and diving team is international, with eight countries represented on the Zips roster. Even the student-athletes from the U.S. are diverse, with team members coming from 10 states across the country.
Sara Bozso, a fifth-year swimmer from Budapest, Hungary, was unsure of what to expect when she attended her first team camp in 2019. Not only was she new to the country, but as an only child, she had never shared a room or a bathroom with others.
“We had to set up a tent, make a bonfire, cut wood, cook dinner,” said Bozso, a breaststroke specialist who is majoring
in exercise science, applied exercise physiology. “We spent the whole weekend together and it showed how we can work together as a team and a family. I felt like there was such a great connection after the camping trip. It was the weekend I started to learn names and to see other people’s personalities and their backgrounds.”
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Brian Armelli, a coordinator of academic support services for UA Athletics, knows from experience at different institutions in his higher education career that international student-athletes can sometimes need extra support to feel at home. Many international student-athletes simply want opportunities to speak their own language to feel more at home, he said.
Around 50 of UA’s approximately 425 student-athletes come from outside the U.S.
In 2023, Armelli started the International Student Athlete Club (ISAC) at the University. Meetings have given student-athletes a chance to share information about and pride in their home countries, get to know other student-athletes who may also be missing
home, and learn important career services information for international students.
“We’re seeing more students from other teams bonding at meetings, and that really makes it feel like home,” Armelli said. “It’s important to get those students together so they know they have other student-athletes to work with and rely on.”
He also connects student-athletes with UA’s English Language Institute, which offers free tutoring and study space for all international students.
In addition to the August camping trip, the women’s swimming and diving team also volunteers for the Akron Marathon. During weekends when recruits are visiting, the entire team might go apple picking or participate in game nights. The team continues to practice outside of the winter competition season and will occasionally take a trip to Cedar Point for a fun day off.
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One of the most impactful activities of the camping trip takes place on the final evening, when team members share some of the experiences that have transformed their lives. The trust that develops through that activity helps transform a team of around 30 individual student-athletes into one tight-knit group.
Bozso has relied on that environment during her UA career. From the shock of the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 to dealing with injuries and illness, she has been able to rely on her teammates and Peresie for support.
Story by Jessica Whitehill