The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
WHILE the world is coming closer together with the term global village being a common phrase, moving to another country is likely to see one coming across new cultures that we might not have been prepared for.
Coming from a Christian background, Brendon Cyprianos (19) took it for granted the people world over are religious and did not give it much thought when he moved to the United States after being awarded a scholarship at Mars Hill University in North Carolina in August last year.
However, he was in for a shock to discover a huge number of those he interacted with are atheists.
Cyprianos, who is back in the country on a semester break, said it was hard for him to believe after growing up in a predominantly Christian society.
“It was a shock to me at first but I came terms with it as that did not mean they are evil. I found the people there very friendly, more than what I expected and it has been a pleasant experience so far for me.
“The difference in weather is something that I had to adapt to because their (US) winters are every cold unlike here where we do not get freezing temperatures,” he said.
Cyprianos is studying marketing at Mars Hill while doing swimming, the sport which earned him the scholarship. He said training is more intense in the US and is quite advanced.
Cyprianos revealed he had to start on working on his kicking technique, something he had not considered important before he left for the States.
“It’s more challenging and more competitive as I meet and compete with swimmers from other countries which are advanced than us. I have lot to learn and will soak it up as I go through my scholarship,” he said.
Cyprianos will be heading back to States in August but before that he will take part in the South Africa short course nationals.
Brendon’s brother, Andressious (22) is also on semester break with one year left before he completes his undergraduate studies at Pace University in New York.
Andre said with one year to go he is focusing on making it to the National Collegiate Athletic Association nationals and also get a an All-America mention, a recognition he achieved only in his first year.
He said a handful of duties saw him struggling with his swimming but he managed to improve at the beginning of the year and his efforts saw him clinch a bronze in the 100m butterfly and a fourth place in the 100m freestyle at the Northeast 10 Conference Championships that were held in February.
“I had to push really hard at the championships as I was ranked 11th and 16th in the fly and back stroke races but went on to third and fourth positions.
We decided to form a soccer team last year at school and this added on to the swimming I was already doing, my academic studies and tutoring that I am doing, so it was a bit hectic.
“After the soccer season ended in November, I freed up some time and I think this enabled me to put more focus on swimming. I had also gained a little bit of weight at the beginning of semester and that could have had an effect,” said Andre.
He revealed that his hectic days saw him wake up at 5:30 am and head for strength training up to 8am after which he headed for the pool until 10am and then attend lectures or tutoring duties to 2pm and head back to the pool and return to class at 4pm until 9pm. Soccer practice would be between 9pm and 11 pm.
