International Waters James Chan’s original plan was to swim for Division I St. Bonaventure, but after a difficult turn of events, he ended up a standout for the Pride.
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By Collin Atwood Photography by Springfield Athletics
few weeks before the 2019 fall semester began, James Chan was on his way to Allegany, N.Y., hoping to secure a spot on St. Bonaventure’s swim team. The only thing on Chan’s agenda for that 15-hour flight from Hong Kong, China, was to sleep and watch movies. It was worth the wait; Chan was ecstatic to land in the States. Chan arrived in New York and settled at his aunt’s house. They spent the day shopping for new winter clothes and did some sightseeing. For the first time, Chan got to walk on Wall Street and see the Statue of Liberty. The next day he was scheduled to visit St. Bonaventure with the impression that he would be signing up for orientation and making his enrollment official. But Chan had his doubts. “I knew that there were some problems,” Chan
said. “I didn’t expect something big was going to happen.” There were two possible outcomes when Chan arrived at the St. Bonaventure swim team’s office: he would either be one step closer to achieving his dreams, or everything he had worked for would crash and crumble right in front of him. Finally, the coach walked in and delivered the news that would flip Chan’s world upside down. “James, I’m sorry,” he said. “Your GPA couldn’t get you on the swim team this season.” Chan was very angry, upset and disappointed with himself. In just two days, Chan went from being on top of the world to suddenly falling to the ground – hard. “I washed my face with tears every day,” he said. “I didn’t see any color... the world was all gray.” With the beginning of the semester just two weeks away, Chan found himself in Upstate New York with his swimming dreams teetering on a ledge. He started to panic; his search for a new school had to start immediately. Many international students have a sort of agent who helps them contact schools in the country they wish to attend. Around the same time Chan was denied from St. Bonaventure, John Taffe, Springfield College’s head swim coach, was working with one of these agents, trying to get another student from Hong Kong to swim for the Pride. The same agent contacted Taffe about getting Chan into Springfield. Because it was so close to the start of the semester, Taffe said he would call admissions and see what he could do. “In a very short amount of time, everything came together and soon after, James was here,” Taffe said.
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