What would an athlete's "senior column" be?

As you may have surmised from the past week’s columns, the sports section’s seniors are really, really anxious to write their senior columns.
The senior column provides a moment in which seniors are allowed to write their own mini-memoirs. It’s the moment when a sports column is, God forbid, not necessarily based on sports.

Heck, I’m anxious to write mine. I’ve “written” about 12 different introductions for mine in my brain, and I’ve still got a year to go. I think senior columns are often the most compelling stories that Spec runs. They can be about everything or nothing, but all are intensely personal. They tell a story. They are the stories for the storytellers, as it were.

Columnists get the opportunity to narrate stories with words. Athletes get the opportunity to tell stories with their performances, their legacies. I always wanted to know what a senior athlete would write if given the chance to encapsulate his or her four-year experience here in a measly little column.

Would athletes be disappointed? Pleased? Ecstatic about their time here?

Would a men’s tennis player say, “I’m happy to have been a part of the era that built up the program here—to help in gaining the reputation and respect that the program has today?” Would a lacrosse player say the same?

Would an archer use the opportunity to tell Spec, “By the way, we’re a national collegiate powerhouse program and pretty much dominate all the other schools—we’d like some recognition here?” To the best of my knowledge, Spec hasn’t written a thing on archery since the ball dropped in Times Square. Archery’s season is well underway at this point.

Would members of the baseball team reach out to the children they support with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy? Would the football team mention the kids in the Bronx or the soup kitchen?

I wanted to know. So I asked.

Lorenzo Casertano, CC ’09, biology major and épée fencer, said that in his senior column he’d “want to thank my coach, Aladar Kogler, first and foremost. The amount of time and effort he’s put into me and all his students is phenomenal.”

A huge outpouring of thanks were in line from most athletes. Almost everyone wanted to thank their coaches, parents, athletic employees, alumni, fans, respective deities, and the like. Some athletes used the idea of a column like an Oscars acceptance speech, and some thought of it as an opportunity to wax nostalgic.

Women’s tennis co-captain Linnae Goswami, CC ’09. sociology major, said, “I would write about how much I would miss the camaraderie of being part of a team. It’s hard to play competitive sports your whole life and say goodbye to it. I would write about the fun I had as a freshman being squashed in the back seat of our van every practice with my fellow classmates, coming from behind and beating Dartmouth, our April Fools’ pranks on our coaches—just to name a few memories. I would thank the girls on the team that have all made an impact on me in some way, their families for coming to all our matches and supporting us, my first coach for believing in my ability to be on the team, and the athletics administration and all the hard work they do for us every day, from scheduling our classes to finding us jobs. It never goes unnoticed. And obviously—and most importantly—my mom and dad and big brother. I’m nothing without them.”

This is what makes a great senior column: the ability to get your own gratification from telling your story, but also pulling on the heartstrings of the people who read it. (Spec seniors, take note! This could be a clinic in how to write your own.)

Jon Tayler’s column this week talked about defining moments for an athletic program. Perhaps the reason he was so jaded to Columbia’s successes is that he hasn’t been in attendance for many of them. Hannah Galey from the women’s swimming team said her favorite memory from college was “winning the 400 freestyle relay at the 2006 Ivy League Championships. Afterwards, the whole team swarmed behind the blocks in celebration of our unexpected victory. After recently re-watching the race, I still get goose bumps.”

Tayler’s most memorable Columbia athletic moment, the double-whammy weekend wipeout of Penn and Princeton, was surely one of basketball’s best moments in recent times.

K.J. Matsui, men’s basketball shooting guard and economics major at the college, said he’d want everybody to know what happens in the home locker room after a win: “When we win at home, players celebrate in the locker room blasting music, dancing, talking about games, and having a great time. I think my best memory is just playing basketball with all the guys on the team and hang[ing] out together off the court. We are almost together for 24 hours, 365 days. That is the best memory.”

Sometimes seniors use their column as a mouthpiece to voice what changes they think should happen—either at Spec or in the world. I wanted to give the athletes the same opportunity.

When asked what aspect of their experience they’d want to change, the athletes were nearly unanimous: win an Ivy championship.
However, Jordan Davis, the political science major and running back—whom I will forever remember as the guy who went yard-to-yard with Mike McLeod in the first half of the Yale game my freshman year—had a much more candid, awesome answer to that question. He said he wished to “receive a red-shirt year, so I can play for the 2009 football Ivy League champs.”

Wouldn’t that have been sweet?

Lisa Lewis is a Barnard College junior majoring in economics. sports@columbiaspectator.com