Senior, Ash Dougan, is a captain of the NSU Swimming and Diving team. Dougan has been swimming competitively since the age of seven and also played rugby growing up back home in England. He transferred from the University of New Orleans last school year because he felt NSU would provide him with the best opportunity to succeed.
“I came to NSU because the facilities and the coaching staff, I felt, would be perfect to help me achieve the best I could,” said Dougan.
Dougan was a member of the squad that won a conference championship last year. It was an unforgettable experience for Dougan, and by far his favorite moment as a Shark.
“Winning conference was amazing,” he said. “Seeing the whole team come together at the meet was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. I mean we were a close team before that, but as soon as we started competing at that meet, everyone seemed so much closer together.”
Dougan said that swimming competitively is much tougher than most people realize.
He said, “Swimming’s a really difficult sport. Most people think you just get in and swim up and down a couple of times, but it’s really technical. Even if it’s from the slight movement in your hand and your stroke to having to shave your legs, there’s a lot of science behind it.”
Dougan, a highly confident individual, credits his mother for motivating him and never allowing him to quit at any task. Raising him as a single parent, Dougan said his mother has been without a doubt, the most influential person in his life.
“When I said I couldn’t do something, she’d be like, ‘Why not?’ If I tried to make excuses, she’d simply just say, ‘Get over it. Just get it done.’ It’d be something simple from my homework to things such as riding the unicycle. I learned how to do that, she just said, ‘Get on with it. Try and do it.’ [She] always encouraged me to do everything I possibly could. She was always inspiring to me,” said Dougan.
