JAMES CHAN

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.

By Collin Atwood

Photography by Springfield Athletics

Afewweeks 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.

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.

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.

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.

Chan was born in Hong Kong and lived there until he came to Springfield three years ago. His whole life was dedicatedto swimming, beginning when he was 3 years old – and he hasn’t stopped since.

Chan was 8 years old when he won his first swim competition and the competitive spirit in him was unleashed. “I justcan’t be aloser. I must win,” Chan said. His “must-win” mentality led to years “There were two choices: of intense training and dedication to the sport. In Hong Kong, Chan would spend two quit or keep swimming.”to four hours each day training,with most days consisting of a practice in the morning and at night.

He would swim at least 60 laps in a 50-meter pool, swimming various strokes to workout different parts of his body. For about half of the laps he would hold a ball and only use his legs to swim. For the other half he would hold the ball between his legs and only use his arms. And he would do it for 3,000 meters.

His workouts would also consist ofoff-the-block sprints and long-distance aerobic swimming.

Even when Chan wasn’t in the pool, he spent his free time doing something related to swimming. Rather than picking up a new hobby or hanging out with friends, Chan would stretch, work out or sleep.

“I used to be an all-swimming guy. Hanging out with someone else was pretty rare,” Chan said.

He enjoyed being in the water. It served as his form of meditation – all he could hear was the water flowing past his ears. Unlike most children, Chan was able to streamline his focus. In order to achieve his dreams, he had to push himself to uniquelimits. “I want to be an Olympian. I want to swim for Hong Kong,” Chan told his parents at 8 years old. For Chan, his hard work didn’t pave a straight path to success.Atthe age of15,shoulder and back injuries forced him out of the water and kept him from training. “People (were) telling me that I should quit,” Chan said. “There was two choices: Either quit or keep swimming.” Of course, he kept swimming.

has always been a necessary step in Chan’s dream to swim for his country. But Chan wasn’t thrilled about coming to Springfield College. It wasn’t because he didn’t like the school –he hadn’t even seen it yet – but he was just so close to swimming at the Division I level. “I didn’t even know about Springfield College,” Chan said. The possibility of a culture shock contributed mightily to his reluctance. He wasn’t sure how he would fit in. “I thought I would be discriminated (against),” Chan said. Those thoughts quickly vanished. In the beginning of Chan’s first year, the swim team did a biathlon where they swam two miles and ran a three-mile loop leading back to Springfield College. “James was ahead after the swim, went out for the run and got lost,” Taffe said. “He ended up running about 10 miles.” Before he knew it, Chan was at a local gas station asking - James Chan people for a map. “Everybody on the team went out looking for him,” Taffe said. “I think that said something; I think it helped lighten the atmosphere for him a bit.”

Now, Chan is just as close with the swim team as he was in 2019. “We do everything together,” he said, “We are like bros.”

Part of that connection to the team comes from Chan’s literal brother, Jonathan.

Jonathan is a first-year student at Springfield and has been swimming with his brother in Hong Kong all his life. Back home, they would train six days a week together. Unlike James, the younger brother came to Springfield by choice, but it did take a little convincing. Jonathan’s family told him to go to America so he could experience a new culture.

“We just wanted to try and push him out of his comfort zone,” James said.

Over the course of his first year, Jonathan has gotten used to the culture and is satisfied with his performance in the pool.

James also learned a lot about American culture in the last three years, but his biggest discovery is the one he madeabout himself.

“I think my takeaway from

Springfield is not necessarily from swimming, but more about communication and enjoying the moment,” Chan said.

Chan is so hard on himself that whenever he is congratulated on a performance that he thinks is sub-par, he’ll brush the compliment off and talk about all of the things he did wrong. He has learned that the better approach would be to acknowledge the compliment and then talk about ways to improve.

“I could show my appreciation to people’s compliments, but at the same time telling themthat I really think that there’s a couple things I could’ve done better,” Chan said. “Learning how to understand someone’s feelings is still something that I’m learning.”

Chan has no problem when it comes to critiquing or giving himself a reality check. No one is harder on him than himself. He expects greatness, and when he doesn’t live up to his own expectations, he gets discouraged.

“I don’t think I’ve been getting any faster since I came here,” Chan said. “It’s just frustrating sometimes to see yourself not improving.”

Although Chan’s perception of himself in the pool these past three years has not been great, his numbers would say otherwise. Chan currently holds three solo swim records for Springfield College (500 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterfly) and contributed to two relay records (400 medley relay and 800 free relay).

Chan was also namedthe NEWMAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 18, 2022. Still, Chan would say, “It wasn’t really a good year.”

Chan has one more year left at Springfield and after that he plans on applying to grad schools to get his doctorate in physical therapy, but doesn’t ever want to give up swimming.

He will alway stay open to any opportunities to swim competitively. But even if no opportunities arise, Chan won’t give up the sport he loves so much. Swimming is a part of who he is.

“If you suddenly take something that costs you two to four hours a day away from your life, your life is going to fall apart very quickly.”