{"id":19075,"date":"2015-10-08T15:06:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T19:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=19075"},"modified":"2015-10-12T13:34:23","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T17:34:23","slug":"floating-hope-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2015\/10\/08\/floating-hope-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Floating Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

While his teammates tugged at their Speedos and swim caps, Dalton Herendeen had his own worries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time my peers were going to see me without my leg,\u201d he said of the start of middle school swim practice. \u201cThat\u2019s scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took a deep breath, plunged into the pool and surfaced to a sight he would never forget: everyone staring, afraid to get in the water with him. He pled with his parents not to make him go back, but they wouldn\u2019t budge.<\/p>\n

\"Dalton<\/a>
Dalton Herendeen, UMW Swim Coach and U.S. Paralympic athlete, swims laps at UMW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UMW\u2019s new assistant swim coach, Herendeen recounts the story from a Goolrick Hall lounge. When he shifts on the couch, there\u2019s a slight clink of metal, his shorts showing his red, white and blue prosthetic leg. A U.S. Paralympic athlete and breaststroke record-holder, he\u2019ll use his talent \u2013 and his story \u2013 to teach Mary Washington swimmers that no goal is too big.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take away his disability, his story is similar to a lot of swimmers,\u201d said Eagles head coach Abby Brethauer. \u201cBut he has a platform, and he\u2019s willing to use it. He\u2019s a great ambassador for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born with a blood clot near his left knee, Herendeen, now 22, put his parents in a precarious position. Removing the clot would risk his life. Amputation would not.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t play those odds,\u201d he said. He was 2 days old when he lost the lower half of his limb.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d struggle with a series of clunky prosthetics, while his parents, determined to treat him the same as his siblings, signed him up for sport after sport. In soccer, for example, \u201cmy leg would go farther than the ball,\u201d Herendeen said. At 6-foot-4, he played basketball and football, but it was in the pool where he\u2019d find his real niche.<\/p>\n

He was a freshman when his coach at Indiana\u2019s Concord Community High School suggested he look into Paralympics. Herendeen slammed the idea. He\u2019d become a formidable opponent to full-bodied athletes; competing with handicapped swimmers seemed like a step backward.<\/p>\n

The coach was persistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing legs and arms and wheelchairs and equipment all around the pool deck brought me back to reality,\u201d Herendeen said of his first Paralympic meet in 2008.\u201cI thought I was going to destroy these kids, but they were phenomenal. I got my butt kicked.\u201d<\/p>\n

He set his sights on making the 2012 U.S. team. While his friends hung out after school, binging on junk food, Herendeen ate, slept and breathed swimming.<\/p>\n

\"Dalton<\/a>By the time trials started at the London Aquatics Centre, he was a University of Indiana sophomore with a strong standing on its Division II team. This was where all his hard work would pay off. It was his day to shine. So when he watched his time in the backstroke creep onto the board, it blew him away. He\u2019d missed the team by a hundredth of a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the worst, gutting feeling,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the hardest day of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sleep never came in his hotel room that night. Instead, a never-ending nightmare, his performance running a loop inside of his mind. Herendeen would\u2019ve rather stayed there the next morning than head back home with his parents. His family, his friends, his teammates, he\u2019d let them all down.<\/p>\n

They were on the plane \u2013 bags stowed, seatbelts fastened, ready for takeoff \u2013 when his phone rang.<\/p>\n

\u201cDalton? Where are you?\u201d It was U.S. Paralympic Swimming Director Queenie Nichols. \u201cYou better get back here. You made the team!\u201d<\/p>\n

In his despair, he\u2019d forgotten the date. It was Father\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat day on that plane I watched him cry for the first time in my life,\u201d Herendeen said of his dad\u2019s reaction to the news they still have a hard time believing.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t medal in London, but he gave it his all and did well. Back in the states and at college, though, something had changed. Just looking<\/em> at water made him feel ill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became a different person after London,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the first time in my life, I didn\u2019t have goals. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted to have a normal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again a phone call \u2013 this one from UMW\u2019s Brethauer \u2013 would pull him back to the pool. She\u2019d seen Herendeen featured in the NCAA magazine Champion<\/em> and wanted him to coach at the Bates College Swim Camp she co-founded.<\/p>\n

Ten summer days there turned things around. Working with children pumped him back up, gave him purpose. He got back in the pool, broke lots of school records, became captain of his U-Indy team and one other thing: An exercise-science major, he switched career tracks from physical therapy to college coaching.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Brethauer, who\u2019s helping him train for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, started coaxing him toward Mary Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoaching him has made me better because I have to think about things in different ways,\u201d she said. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to make us all better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Herendeen\u2019s goal, both in and out of the pool. As a motivational speaker, he shares his experience at companies, camps and schools, with whoever will listen, including an early-October audience in UMW\u2019s Dodd Auditorium.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at my story and it\u2019s awesome, but there are so many better stories out there,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s disabled, whether you\u2019re bad at math or nonathletic. I just struggle with walking. I like to take that message to the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UMW assistant coach teaches swimmers to defy adversity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":19077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"category-umw-home","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFloating Hope - Great Minds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2015\/10\/08\/floating-hope-2\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Chinn Marvashti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lisa Chinn Marvashti\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eab3b9dd084c2488474792f0c391b8e7\"},\"headline\":\"Floating Hope\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-08T19:06:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-12T17:34:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":959,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/Dalton_HP.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Show on Great Minds\",\"UMW Home Page\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/08\\\/floating-hope-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Floating Hope - 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