This is Sideline Stories. A platform where NE10 student-athletes can share their collegiate experiences in an unfiltered environment - using their voices to promote growth and positive change in our league and in all of NCAA Division II athletics.

Amanda Shoemaker, a junior on the Bentley swimming & diving team, has found another passion since beginning her collegiate journey in Waltham. Not only has this hobby reduced her stress as a student-athlete, but offers practical experience for her future career path. Here is her Sideline Story:

As a varsity swimmer at Bentley University, I have frequently been reminded of the importance of perseverance.

Over the last 12 years of my swimming career, something my coaches always emphasized was having a “passion” for the sport. Having a passion for swimming was the number one thing that kept me persevering in the sport, yet over time, I still succumbed to burnout as many college athletes do.

Swimming became increasingly frustrating and less enjoyable; rather than reducing my stress, it often increased it. I am incredibly lucky, however, to have been taught that perseverance and passion are as important out of the pool as in it.

I received a great deal of support from my teammates and coaches when I joined the Bentley Moot Court team, and I firmly believe that my recent successes can be attributed to the values that swimming has taught me over the years, as well as this support.

Though I have continued swimming, Moot Court has become my new “outlet.” The American Moot Court Association publishes a fictional legal case each year that is based on real-life, pressing legal issues. In order for students to create arguments to support the petitioner or respondent side, AMCA provides 15-20 different legal cases to be used as precedent. Students pair up for oral argument and brief writing, with each student taking one of the two questions up for argument.

This year, the two questions were on Fourth Amendment unreasonable searches and seizures and Sixth Amendment ability to confront one’s accuser. Student teams get the chance to argue for both petitioner and respondent in oral argument, but pick one side for which to write the brief.

Being on a Moot Court team is the experience of a lifetime, and this year’s Bentley team (eight students, four pairs) was more successful than any team in the 18-year history of the program. I hope the lessons I learned from Moot Court will prove valuable when I attend law school. My hope is to also put my marketing major to good use by going into consumer protection law and one day working for the FTC on deceptive advertising cases.

Focusing so much on another activity has actually increased my enjoyment of swimming and I would highly recommend that other student-athletes consider joining activities they are passionate about. This past fall, Moot Court became my number one priority, and my oral argument, analytical reasoning, and brief writing skills increased dramatically.

My partner and I were honored to make it into the top 16 for oral argument at the Fitchburg Eastern Regionals. We were even more excited to find out this January that we were named AMCA National Champions for writing the best respondent brief in the nation. More than 500 teams from 34 universities in the U.S. and Canada competed in Moot Court in the 2019-2020 year, so it was amazing to see all of our hard work pay off.

However, the winning itself cannot compare to the experiences gained from participating in an enjoyable activity. Swimming has taught me that ‘winning’ is often elusive for many reasons. What we learn from competing, whether it is in a sport or in the classroom, goes far beyond winning, and the number one lesson is to be passionate about whatever you do.

Though swimming may not be my top passion anymore, the sport has taught me to be successful at other things I am passionate about.

Many students are told, “If you do something you enjoy, you will never work a day in your life.” This theory applies not only to sports, where the long, intense hours of hard work are feasible only if they are enjoyable, but to the rest of the world outside of sports.

My recommendation to other student-athletes who are reading this is to get out there and find things you enjoy as much or more than your sport!

- Amanda Shoemaker