How College Swimming Changed My Life: New Balance’s Jill Kearns

Swimming-Jill Kearns
Photo Courtesy: Northeastern Athletics

By Delaney Lanker, Swimming World College Intern

Traveling to other countries, standing on the podium at championships, captaining a team of 30 girls and making lifelong memories made waking up at 5 a.m. for practice and balancing 20 hours of training a week with academics, all worth it for Northeastern University alumni Jill Kearns.

“Swimming provided me with so many opportunities that I otherwise wouldn’t have had,” Kearns said. “Swimming in college was one of the most beneficial things for my career.”

In 2013, Kearns graduated from Northeastern University with a major in psychology and minor in business administration. She swam butterfly and IM and still holds the NU team record in the 200 butterfly.

Now Kearns is an HR Generalist for New Balance Athletic Shoe based out of Brighton, Massachusetts. She works works with teams on associate development, organizational changes and facilitates new hire orientations.

“Every day at work is different,” Kearns said. “I enjoy getting to know and working with different people all the time.”

Only a few years removed from her college swimming career, Kearns still looks back at her daily life in college with amazement.

“It’s hard to believe my life consisted of waking up at 5 a.m. for practice, going to class all day, going back to practice, doing homework and then going to bed,” Kearns said. “But being able to have that experience has positively impacted my dedication, discipline and time management skills which are extremely valuable in the working world.”

Swimming in college taught Kearns many things, but she narrowed it down to her top three:

1. Time Management

Being able to balance school work and over 20 hours of training a week is an “extremely valuable skill to have that many others don’t have much experience with prior to the working world,” Kearns said. Swimming is one of the most time consuming sports out there, between time in the water, the weight room and weekend long meets, but being able to juggle this tough schedule while staying healthy and having fun, only makes going into the real world that much easier.

2. Teamwork

Kearns learned that being a part of an all female swim team, has its ups and its downs. Captaining and working with different personalities throughout her four years of college swimming helped Kearns learn how to bring everyone together to work towards a common goal.

“Sometimes competing can be tough,” Kearns said. “And keeping the team motivated throughout a meet can be challenging- yet rewarding.”

3. Discipline

Swimming instills discipline to each member of the team. Waking up at 5 a.m. to jump into a freezing cold pool in the middle of winter isn’t something for the weary. And still, going to that 8 a.m. class after practice rather than taking a nap, isn’t something most college kids would choose to do. But having the discipline to uphold this craziness helped Kearns in her job search throughout college.

“You’ll see employers mouths drop in interviews when you tell them your schedule,” she said.

Northeastern_JillKearns_2012

Photo Courtesy: Jill Kearns

Post Swimming

Kearns took a year away from the pool before she decided to put her goggles back on again. And the competitor in her couldn’t keep Kearns away from working for an athletic brand.

“New Balance is an extremely active company,” Kearns said. So, Kearns joined New Balance’s triathlon team and competes as the swimmer in their relay sprint races.

“It’s exciting to be part of a team again,” Kearns said. “I’ve also competed in my first full sprint triathlon since ‘retiring.’”

Even as a “swammer” Kearns still misses “the routine of the practices and the feeling of accomplishment after finishing a tough workout or race.” Even the memories her training trips to Puerto Rico, are positive ones. No matter how beaten down or hard practices were, Kearns said that she always had fun.

“Aside from making lifelong friends and having a great time, the skills you learn from being a collegiate athlete are some of the most valuable in life,” Kearns said. “It may seem like a lot of work at first, but swimming in college was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

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