There is no glory in being a walk-on.
But as Ohio swimmer Eric Flecher found out, there is an element of excitement and respect, and if nothing else, hard work.
Flecher, a senior freestyler, came to Ohio three years ago, and now when his times are compared to others in the Mid-American Conference, it is hard to imagine that he did not have a scholarship in his first season as a Bobcat.
A flashback to 2001 gives a strong picture of Flecher as a swimmer who was fresh off a successful season at Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Ky. There, he received a scholarship worth approximately 15 to 20 percent of the school's tuition. But the school, part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, did not quite give him what he wanted athletically or academically.
I started to become a little more aware of my future with my business degree
and when I started to look at where all the jobs were pointing and how far away Cumberland was (from home) it wasn't very much fun he said. Plus
I heard a lot of really good things about the school of business here. I was looking more at the academics when I transferred as opposed to the swimming.
Being at a bigger school had its perks, but not in the swimming scholarship area. When Flecher approached Ohio swimming coach Greg Werner about the transfer, Werner told him right away that there was no scholarship money available for his first season.
He said that my times at that point were not fast enough for a scholarship
but he also said that if he did his job right that there was a possibility that I could swim fast enough
Flecher said. That kind of lit the fire
and I thought that if I could get the job done and do it right
maybe I could get a scholarship. But money wasn't the real reason I wanted to swim.
He did do it right, although there was a minor bump along the way. Werner said, however, that Flecher's maturity has grown so much that the team elected him and another former walk-on, Jason Folt, to be co-captains this season.
I saw a young man that came in who was a little impatient
that didn't necessarily believe 100 percent in the program and actually was going to quit after his first year here
Werner said. He kind of regrouped over the summer
and we communicated a little bit better. From there
