University of Tennessee Athletics
FOR SWIMMER SHANNAHAN, LEADERSHIP SEEMS TO COME NATURALLY
February 22, 2002 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 22, 2002
by Josh Pate
Wednesdays are special for the third grade class at Dogwood Elementary. That's when Ms. Shannahan comes to help out for the day. It's the only day of the week she gets to come, and she will be leaving soon to go to a different school to help out. But in her short time at Dogwood, Ms. Shannahan has already grown attached to the little third-graders.
"I love it," Ms. Shannahan said. "The kids are so fun and so cute. I got two Valentines today. I thought it was cool that they even remembered my name because I had only been there once."
At Dogwood, Ms. Shannahan usually assists the teacher in grading papers and helps the kids with projects, like last week's Valentine's Day project. Ms. Shannahan even stays to help after-school kids with phonics exercises.
Wednesdays are special for Ms. Shannahan, too. But they're also kind of hectic. She spends the majority of the day as a teacher assistant, then has to go to her own classes at the University of Tennessee. And, since Ms. Shannahan is a senior swimmer for UT, she still has to go to swimming practice later that day to make up the early morning practice she missed.
"It's hard to work around practice," Ms. Shannahan said. "But you just learn to deal with it."
In fact, Monica Shannahan has developed into one of the strongest and most versatile swimmers for the Lady Vols. As a senior, she has had outstanding performances in the pool while also providing senior leadership in a teacher-like way.
"She's really been a great leader for our team over the past four years," Lady Vols' swimming coach Dan Colella said. "And she leads with her actions more than her words. We've been able to turn to her during meets, and she is always able to come through."
However, it's in the classroom where Shannahan is looking to excel the most - the middle school classroom, that is. As a history major and elementary education minor, Shannahan has aspirations of becoming a middle school history teacher one day. The hard part is getting used to the label of being a teacher.
"It's kind of weird being called Ms. Shannahan," she said. "I feel like I'm so old."
Shannahan will be graduating in August and plans to enter graduate school at Tennessee. If all goes as planned, she will be completing an internship in the fall with the Knox County School System for the entire school year. After spending a year in the classroom and finishing her graduate classes, Shannahan says she would like to teach internationally before opening the history books in the U.S.
"Going overseas is something I've wanted to do for a long time," she said. "I want to go to Japan and teach for a year and maybe come back here to coach little kids."
"I used to live in Japan for three years. I'm really interested in the Asian culture so I wouldn't mind teaching in China or Taiwan or something like that."
In the pool, Shannahan has been dominant for the Lady Vols. In Tennessee's final dual meet of the season, she captured the 200-yard breaststroke versus Florida with a time of 2:20.51. She also placed second in the 200y butterfly.
However, it was in the month of January when Shannahan made the biggest splash, as she was named edsouth Lady Vol Athlete of the Month for her performances. It all started Jan. 12 in a double-dual meet against Auburn and Northwestern. Shannahan won both the 200y butterfly (2:01.46) and the 200y individual medley (2:06.07), recording a NCAA provisional qualifier in the butterfly. She had a second NCAA provisional in the 400y IM when she placed second (4:24.30) behind NCAA champion Maggie Bowen of Auburn.
Two weeks later, on Jan. 26, Shannahan continued her winning ways in the Lady Vols' 163-137 victory over Arkansas. She went 4-0 on the day, taking top honors in both the 100y and 200y butterfly and the 200y breaststroke. Her time in the 200y butterfly (2:03.00) marked a new NCAA provisional for Shannahan in that event. She was also part of the winning team in the 200y medley relay, teaming with Bianca Jones for a time of 1:46.85.
"I just wanted to go into my senior year and end on a good note," Shannahan said. "I didn't want to have any regrets because I've been in this sport since I was eight, and I want to finish it up well.
"It helps when other people on your team are fired up about the year, too. And we started this year with everyone on the team fired up about everything. People just wanted to do better than they did last year."
Shannahan and the Lady Vols are competing this week at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Athletes are limited to only three individual events, leaving Shannahan with opportunities in the butterfly, breaststroke or IM. She will probably also compete in some relay events as well.
On Thursday, Feb. 21, the opening day of individual swimming events at SECs, Shannahan took eighth in the championship final of the 200y individual medley with a clocking of 2:03.70. The San Diego, Calif., native advanced to the finals by recording a collegiate and season-best time in the preliminaries, finishing third in her heat and seventh overall with a time of 2:03.62, also an NCAA 'B' cut.
"She is very versatile in the pool, and she can swim a lot of different events," Colella said. "So, when we begin to make a lineup for a meet, we ask ourselves where we can score the most points. And every event she swims, we can definitely count on her to score some big points."
The one area that brings together Shannahan's work in the pool with her goal to be a teacher is the leadership she provides for the team. Her actions in the pool and away from competition set a standard for the younger members of the team. Shannahan also wants to become friends with the underclassmen, something that was non-existent when she was a freshman.
"When I was a freshman, we didn't even know the senior class," she said. "So we want our freshmen to feel like they know the seniors. We want to develop a relationship with them. Our freshmen are awesome, so it's pretty easy to mesh with them."
Communication can sometimes be broken between seniors and freshmen, but Colella says Shannahan and the rest of the seniors have really stepped up this year to avoid a team split.
"As a senior, it's easy to separate yourself from the rest of the team because of what's going on in your life," Colella said. "But I think they really took it upon themselves to make sure that didn't happen. They wanted to make sure our freshmen feel welcome and feel at home. It's really nice to work with athletes like that."
So as the swimming season winds down for Shannahan, a career in the classroom is just beginning. And with all the leadership aspects that she has brought to the UT swim team, it appears that Ms. Shannahan has chosen the right profession to pursue.
