2008 Woodie Awards
Student Spotlight: Slalom Superstar
Kelly Castino
Issue date: 10/30/06 Section: Life & Times
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Discipline: the one word that comes to mind when I think of college athletes. College athletes have to go to classes; practice and train for his or her specific sport, still have a social life, and maintain an above average GPA to be eligible for the NCAA. There are many hard working athletes at Rollins College; Michelle Simpson is just one of the few who exhibit the characteristics of a professional athlete.
Michelle Simpson is a senior at Rollins from Bridgeport, Texas. She is on the water skiing team and is a professional water skier that has the opportunity to travel all over the world. She has many achievements including the 2005 World Cup Women's Slalom Champion and is a record holder for four events. Michelle started water skiing at age four and began competition in skiing events at age nine. She concentrates on slalom skiing and has won numerous awards.
When she is not skiing, she does not get a break; instead, she is training for her competitions by lifting weights and running. In season, which is February to November, she tries to ski anywhere four to six days a week for a few hours.
But how does Michelle do all of this and still manage to go to college? She has learned to bring her books and study anywhere. Many times she has had to study on planes taking her back and forth from the tournaments or at the tournament. Michelle also is disciplined and instead of staying up to the wee hours of the night, she wakes up early in the morning to get her homework completed.
She has also had to make sacrifices in her social life in order to fit in studying, skiing, and working out but she tries her hardest to lead a normal social life. Why did she choose Rollins over all the other colleges in Florida that have skiing programs?
She chose Rollins because she knew some former Rollins students who were professional water skiers. She knew Rhoni Barton, Brenda Baldwin, and Drew Ross. Rhoni encouraged her to look at Rollins. As you can tell, Michelle liked Rollins because of the warm weather and the fact that Orlando is the center of professional water skiing. If you are interested in watching professional waterskiing and wakeboarding, there are competitions in Orlando.
Michelle Simpson is a senior at Rollins from Bridgeport, Texas. She is on the water skiing team and is a professional water skier that has the opportunity to travel all over the world. She has many achievements including the 2005 World Cup Women's Slalom Champion and is a record holder for four events. Michelle started water skiing at age four and began competition in skiing events at age nine. She concentrates on slalom skiing and has won numerous awards.
When she is not skiing, she does not get a break; instead, she is training for her competitions by lifting weights and running. In season, which is February to November, she tries to ski anywhere four to six days a week for a few hours.
But how does Michelle do all of this and still manage to go to college? She has learned to bring her books and study anywhere. Many times she has had to study on planes taking her back and forth from the tournaments or at the tournament. Michelle also is disciplined and instead of staying up to the wee hours of the night, she wakes up early in the morning to get her homework completed.
She has also had to make sacrifices in her social life in order to fit in studying, skiing, and working out but she tries her hardest to lead a normal social life. Why did she choose Rollins over all the other colleges in Florida that have skiing programs?
She chose Rollins because she knew some former Rollins students who were professional water skiers. She knew Rhoni Barton, Brenda Baldwin, and Drew Ross. Rhoni encouraged her to look at Rollins. As you can tell, Michelle liked Rollins because of the warm weather and the fact that Orlando is the center of professional water skiing. If you are interested in watching professional waterskiing and wakeboarding, there are competitions in Orlando.
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