John Cox '22 Recruiting Profile

I have grown up in rural Alleghany County, NC.   My family owns a small beef farm and apiary that has been in the family for many generations.   I enjoy working with our animals and with machinery, welding, and problem-solving.  I go to a small high school where I believe I do well in my studies.  I am a member of the BETA Club and take honors and community college courses.  Because we are a small school, I am able to build relationships with my teachers.  One of the most important of these relationships has been with our athletic director who knows how to encourage me to become a better athlete and a better person.  I have learned that I enjoy athletics and want to pursue a degree in sports medicine and perhaps physical therapy later in my educational career.

I have been swimming since I first started taking lessons at age four.  The same coach who made my mom get me out of the kiddie pool during my big brother’s swim team practice was the same coach who got me over my fear of the deep end a few years later. This is the same coach who now, even though I can no longer swim for him on a regular basis, encourages me to set goals, be confident in my abilities and work to achieve my goals.  This kind of relationship is important to me as I continue to swim.  

I swim on our high school team which is small but growing. I swam for three years on a local USA Swim team that is also small.  Because we are rural, opportunities are limited, so I go to camps and clinics wherever I can.   I do core strength conditioning/dryland in the mornings before school and during the summer with our athletic director at the high school.  I am also able to use the facilities at the private club where I am the head lifeguard.  Two years ago I joined a larger USA Swim team that requires me to drive an hour and sometimes two hours one way so that I can get more competition and more rigorous practice.  I have enjoyed swimming for this team, have made new friends, and built relationships with the coaches that are important to me.  

I am an Eagle Scout with five palms.  For my project, I installed a large Veteran’s Memorial for the members of our church who had passed away.  I also redid the landscaping around the church.  I am very proud of my project as I know it means something to the members of the congregation and community as well as the families of those listed in the granite.  Although I've achieved about as much in scouting as I can, I continue to volunteer at our local food pantry.  I have been fortunate to be able to partner with troops from across the United States to go to National Jamboree,  Northern Tier, and Sea Base.  Since the local troop is small, we rarely have enough scouts for our troop to get to go as a whole, so I have had to look for opportunities with other troops.  This has helped me learn to make friends and become more comfortable in new situations. 

I work full time in the summer as a lifeguard at Roaring Gap Club which is a private club in our community. This is my third year at the club and I am working this year as the head lifeguard.  The club provided additional training for me that will allow me to train our guards and be a manager of the staff we have.  I also work during the holidays for a local Christmas tree farm.

Because of my parents and teachers, I have a strong work ethic and have learned how to manage and accomplish multiple goals at one time. While I don’t know the specific degree I will pursue, I realize that I am only seventeen and I have some time yet to decide.  What I do know, is that while I may not be the fastest, I just want to swim.  I keep working to improve and get better.  I keep asking for help and trying to find opportunities to get extra training.  When I compete, I compete against myself and do my best to make sure that our team does as well as it can.  My goal is to improve personally so that I can be a stronger asset to my team as a whole.