Despite initially committing to Rowan as a swimmer, Kailey Sheehan ended up on the soccer field her freshman year. Sheehan started swimming year-round in kindergarten, but her attitude towards the sport started to change during her senior year of high school. She also played lacrosse, soccer, and ran track in addition to swimming during her time at Sterling High School in Somerdale, New Jersey. 

Sheehan spent the majority of her life around the pool. Her family is also very involved in the sport. Her mom, Erin, swam at Rowan, class of ‘01, and her brother, Braden, joined Rowan’s swim team in 2023. 

“I took the sport very seriously from a young age and I didn’t hate it, but I felt like it was taking away from my social life and things like that,” Sheehan said. “My senior year of high school, I really struggled mentally with the sport, like getting myself up to go to practice… Swimming is a very mental sport, like waking up at 6 a.m. and jumping into a cold pool isn’t usually what most people want to do before going to class. Everything in your mind affects the way you perform. It’s an independent sport. It’s very individual. It’s on you, there’s no one else.” 

As time went on, Sheehan continued to feel unmotivated in the pool and quit the sport completely during her senior year. 

“Swimming has always been something that’s important and relevant to me. I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” Sheehan said. “It got to the point where I would show up to the pool, and I just couldn’t get myself to go in the water.”

Sheehan withdrew her commitment from Rowan’s swim team and focused on soccer and lacrosse during her senior year. Come September, Sheehan had not swam since the spring, and looked to continue her soccer career at Rowan. 

“I asked to walk on the soccer team, and I played the first semester here, but it just didn’t feel right,” Sheehan said. “I started swimming again. I went to open hours at the Rec…to stay active…I was swimming almost every day by myself, and I just found comfort in it.”

While swimming at the Rec, Sheehan caught the eye of Rowan women’s swimming coach Elise Fisher. Sheehan continued to swim at the Rec during the second half of her freshman year and eventually trained with the swim team during the offseason. 

“I became very close friends with the team…and I kind of got the love for the sport back, which I hadn’t felt for a really long time,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan knew that coming back to the sport would be a challenge, especially because it would be her first year swimming collegiately. 

“Swimming is different [than most sports] because if you miss one day of swimming, it’s equivalent to missing like three or four days of running. You get out of shape really fast,” Sheehan said. “But I was able to work myself back to where I was before… It was an adjustment, for sure, training every day, but honestly, I think I did a good job of handling it. I performed well, considering that I didn’t swim competitively for a year. I even had the best time. I think that it was a good thing to get that under my belt before this year. I feel so much more prepared now. My teammates and coaching staff also did a really good job of welcoming me onto the team.”

For Sheehan the time away from the pool changed her perspective on the sport. 

“I didn’t realize how much I missed it until it was gone. I think having the time off was really beneficial for me. I think if I just stuck it out and hated it and kept going, I don’t think I would have been as successful and ended up enjoying it as much if I didn’t take that break,” Sheehan said. “I think that eventually, I would have made the realization…especially, once I figured out that my brother was also going to be coming here. I think that was also a pretty big factor because both of us being on the same team, I think would be pretty cool and once I made connections with the team as well, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is where I need to be.’”

Sheehan still faces similar challenges as she enters her second year on the team, in terms of time management and separating herself from her sport. 

“Even though I have this love for the sport back and I am so thankful for it, some days are hard when it comes to balancing schoolwork, work, and a social life. This year is different too because we have two doubles a week,” Sheehan said. “On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have practice from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. and then again at 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. so it was really hard to manage in the beginning, but now this is like our third or fourth week doing it.”

Sheehan utilizes any time that she can to lessen her workload, especially when the team is competing away from Rowan. 

“If we have an away meet we’ll get to the pool at like, 7:30 a.m. and we won’t get back on campus until like, 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. at night. So that entire day is kind of a wash, trying to get homework done. You just have to be smart, like, planning out your week, and anytime that you’re free or not napping in between practices, you have to take advantage of it,” Sheehan said. “You also need to get to bed early, because you probably will have a 6:00 a.m. practice the next day. A lot of people will try to crunch and get stuff done at night, but that’s not an option. I think getting stuff done early and having teammates that hold you accountable is very important.”

Since her sophomore year, Sheehan has been a part of The Hidden Opponent Club on campus. The club helps Sheehan navigate her mental health both inside and outside of the sport as it provides a safe space for student-athletes to participate in mental health-based conversations and gain resources.

“I think that just having a community of people that are also student-athletes who understand that hours and hours of your time a week are dedicated to this one thing…and that sports can take up a lot of your energy, mentally and physically is very useful,” Sheehan said. “Also for me, just talking to people, and having a physical connection, and getting out of the house is important.”

Sheehan stays grounded by reminding herself of her journey and advises others to look inside themselves as they try to balance their mental health. 

“I think looking back at the little girl that started swimming has helped me, because I’m like, ‘don’t forget where you came from, and like why you’re doing it,’” Sheehan said. “Also, just finding something within you to motivate yourself to keep going.”

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @TheWhitSports or email sports@thewhitonline.com