Milligan College Buffaloes

By Jeff Birchfield
Johnson City Press

Aly Mangas saw plenty of inspirational books related to sports. She just couldn’t find one about the sport she was passionate about.

It led her to put together “Oxygen For The Swimmer.”

“There wasn’t any book specifically to encourage swimmers,” said Mangas, a freshman on the Milligan College swim team. “All the stories are related to swimming, but I’ve had people who don’t swim come up to me and say, ‘I really like the book.’ It’s inspirational, specifically for swimmers, but it seems anybody can use it.”

The book was published while Mangas was still a senior at Covenant Christian High School in Greenwood, Ind., and as one can guess from the title, it’s based on the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She uses quotes and stories from coaches, her mom and others, including 1996 Olympic gold-medalist Sheila Taormina, as well as a variety of Bible verses.

“I didn’t want it to be just from me,” she said. “I have a lot of stories, but I think it’s more effective having stories from other people. It was fun having my mom contribute, but at the same time, we would go back and forth about whether we wanted it this way or that way. It was a little stressful at times, but it worked out well.”

Mangas’ first season with the Buffs has also worked out well. She has proven to be extremely versatile for coach Ron Goehring’s squad, competing in events from the 100 and 200-meter butterfly to distance freestyle events like the 500 and 800.

Between swimming at the college level and a first year of studies, Mangas didn’t pay very much attention to her book project for a while. That was until a feature in the Milligan College magazine came out. “It’s funny because after I wrote it, did the p.r. and the press releases, I let it go a while,” she said. “Especially starting college, I was trying to focus on me a while. When swim season started, I looked back at my book once in a while. Since then, I read through it and look at everyone’s stories.”

Those stories include Nate Tauzer, who suffers from mild cerebal palsy, sharing his story of working towards the Paralympics Games. It also includes Allison Lanese recalling how she learned to deal with an intimidating coach. The reaction to Mangas compiling these stories in the 131-page book have been overwhelmingly positive.

“The people who have read it, like it,” she said. “I actually had one girl come up to me and say she used it as her devotion this morning. It was really good for her before finals.”

Another positive was being contacted by University of Georgia swimmer Michelle McKeehan, a national recordholder in the 200 individual medley, who thanked Mangas for the book’s inspirational qualities. McKeehan isn’t the most famous swimmer, however, to own a copy of Oxygen For The Swimmer. That distinction belongs to 14-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps, who Mangas met at the U.S. National Trials in Indianapolis.

“He was signing books, and we exchanged autographs,” she said. “It was interesting to say the least. I was excited, but it wasn’t like it was real to me. It wasn’t until afterwards I was like, ‘I just gave Michael Phelps my book.’ He’s definitely the most famous person I’ve ever met.”

Phelps seemed equally impressed with Mangas, sharing the book, which has the subtitle “A Breath of Encouragement,” with several of those around him.

In her early days at Milligan, many of Mangas’ teammates have offered her breaths of encouragement. She mentioned Victoria Licari, in particular, as one who has helped her adjust to college life.

While taking the words in her book to heart, Mangas admits there are times when the schedule of a college athlete still seems overwhelming.

“It’s challenging,” she said. “It is hard with the Saturday meets, just having Sunday off to try to fit all my homework in. We have practices at morning and then at night, so it’s good for learning time management. It gets hard and tiresome. When we don’t have meets on the weekends, it’s nice sometimes.”

She can always look at her book which has a chapter titled “Rest for the Weary.” She can even look back at the letter written by Jessica Long, a fourtime gold medalist in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, which talks about working hard to overcome challenges. Mangas understands there are always challenges in life, even the self-discipline it takes for the normal high school or college swimmer to perform at his or her best.

“You have to be dedicated,” she said. “It’s easy to fall off the wagon. You have to find that balance because there are some days you just don’t want to practice. You have to force yourself to go, but once you get in the pool, it gets out that stress, and it works out.”