Former Muskego student Therese Missiaen, having had first dive season at UW-Milwaukee, and it was a success! Therese was an amazing athlete at Muskego, and is still taking that Warrior Pride to college. Most college student/athletes say that learning is different, and the sports as well, everything for the learning side is you are on your own, and sports become very competitive.

Some things in college and high school, but some things are also very different, Missiaen states “to be honest, once I got settled into college, it was not really more difficult than high school for me. I had some easy classes and some harder classes, just like I did in high school, so it was not too hard to balance. College is a bit different because you get to choose classes that actually apply to your future profession, so it makes the classes more interesting and personal to you. I really like this because it is much easier to learn about something I am interested in”. College athletes have different schedules than other students that are not in a sport. Practices can be early in the morning, some during the day, and some at night. Classes can be like that too, so picking classes that work around the sports schedule that the athlete is in, is less stressful for them. 

Therese got a scholarship for diving and had a lot of highlights throughout her first year of college dive. “the season was long, but very fun. First, starting college off with a super welcoming team composed of swimmers and divers, men and women, was very helpful. I automatically had a lot of friends and people to watch out for me. Specifically, I got super close with the dive team, and it is crazy to think that I have only known them for 6 months. My biggest highlight this season was going to the Conference (which is the biggest meet for the regular season) and scoring points for the team on both 1-meter and 3-meter diving. Along with that, the girls’ team took second overall, which is a very high achievement” says Therese. Therese learns more things at each practice and gets stronger and better even in the off season, she will be training. 

Sports is also different in high school, and college. Missiaen says “College diving was a bit of an adjustment, specifically because you compete in 3-meter diving, which is never done in highschool. It was tough at the beginning of the season to get a full list back on both boards after some time off, but once the first meet came around, I was good to go. Meets are also structured differently; we only do 6 dives on both boards at every meet, we never do 11 dives, otherwise we need a lot more training and meet days would be even more exhausting.” Therese is a strong athlete, that is very dedicated to her sports and education. 

In college, athletes learns different things when it comes to the sports they take what they learned in high school with the onto the next level. “The basics go a long way in diving. However, I have learned a lot from my college coach, and I am so thankful for him and my teammates helping me improve throughout the year” says Therese. Balancing class and sports in college could be a little difficult for some people, but this is how Therese does it “it was definitely a lot to handle at first, but once I got into a schedule, it was not bad at all. I feel like I have more downtime in college than I did in high school. I am actually glad that I have practice everyday, otherwise, I would be bored because I hate having too much downtime” Missiaen says.

Good luck to Therese and to her team in the upcoming years in academics and sports!