Spotlight on Students: Panagiotis Pantis

Peter, as his friends call him, has been swimming since the age of six. He presently stands in 8^th place nationally in the 100-meter freestyle and 10^th in the 50-meter freestyle. Of course, such rankings do not happen easily. Peter trains six days a week, including morning and afternoon training hours. His typical weekly training schedule looks like this:   Monday: 15:30-18:00 Tuesday: 05:45-08:00 Wednesday: 15:30-18:00 Thursday: 15:30-18:00 Friday: 15:30-18:00 Saturday: 06:00-09:00 If you are paying attention, you notice that twice a week, Peter is in the pool while the rest of us are in our dreams! Moreover, swimming training season begins in September each year and ends in July, leaving only one month per year for him to relax and not train. This is typical of competitive swimmers like Peter. It is also dedication to the sport. During the December 2011 holiday, Peter went to Naoussa for intense training where he endured double swimming training sessions morning and afternoon for a week. Such intense training is an important component of Peter’s development as a swimmer and helps prepare him for national and international competitions. Peter’s most recent competitions include EUROMEET, an international event that took place in Luxembourg in January, where he placed 1^st in both the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle. In February, he participated in the NATIONAL WINTER SWIMMING COMPETITION and came in 5^th place in the 100-meter freestyle and 7^th place in the 50-meter freestyle. Also, he received two gold medals and one bronze in the three relays that he swam. Peter, who also has an impressive grade point average, represents that class of student who can balance both academics and intensive sports training. When asked about school, he says that Math is his favorite subject, but that he also enjoys doing research projects. Congratulations, Peter, for your hard work, dedication and successes as a student-athlete.