Top swimmer finds balance between school and training

It is hard enough to maintain a tight training schedule fit for a world-class athlete, but imagine having to do that and attend classes five days a week.

Amy Balcerzak-Field knows such a challenge.

The Northwestern grad managed to win medals for the United States swimming team at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, last month. And, besides continuing her training schedule, she has just started her first year at Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine.

Let's just say that wasting time is a luxury Balcerzak-Field cannot afford.

"You don't have time to mess around," she said. "You get home, you eat dinner, you study."

Raised in Sharon, Pa. -- just north of Pittsburgh -- Balcerzak-Field began her swimming career on a YMCA team. She soon wanted a program that was more competitive and would allow her to compete on a national level.

That's when she entered the Peddie School, a New Jersey preparatory school near Princeton.

At Peddie, Balcerzak-Field went to her first Olympic trials as a senior.

After her days at Peddie came to an end, the swimmer decided to attend Northwestern on an athletic scholarship.

"I wanted to go to an academic as well as an athletic school," Balcerzak-Field said.

At Northwestern, Balcerzak-Field was able to balance her time equally between swimming and academics.

"I could put swimming at a higher priority," she said of her four years at Northwestern, where she studied biology.

Still, her schedule during those years was rigorous. In order to get a head start on the day, Balcerzak-Field and her teammates would wake up at 5:30 a.m. and practice from 6:00 to 7:30.

After a full day of classes, Balcerzak-Field returned to practice again until 6 p.m.

"Most of the time, you get a stigma of athletes who are laid back," the swimmer said. "I think that's the opposite."

After graduating from college last year, Balcerzak-Field swam in all three zones of the World Cup -- the American in Maryland, the Asian in Shanghai, China, and the European in Stockholm, Sweden.

The highlight so far of her swimming career has been her appearance at the Goodwill Games.

"What makes it exciting is the fact that you need to get first [place] because your country is depending on you," she said.

At the games, Balcerzak-Field garnered the individual bronze in the 50- and 100-meter breast stroke. The U.S. team collectively won silver in the competition.

Throughout all this, she has managed to find time to marry Chris Field, a doctoral student in philosophy whom she met while studying in Chicago.

But Field is not the only admirer of this star U.S. swimmer.

"I watched her in between meets resting, stretching and reading vet books," said Dick Shoulberg, her Goodwill Games coach.

Shoulberg, who is the aquatic director and head swim coach at Germantown Academy here in Philadelphia, has high hopes for Balcerzak-Field's future.

"If she can maintain her academic excellence, and accomplish her athletic dream to be an Olympian, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

For Balcerzak-Field, it is all part of what she calls her "intense laser attitude."

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