Two Sports, One Day, One Player

By Dorian Alerte | Published by November 12, 2021

UNION- Sian Seeger was not expecting to be a multisport athlete when she began her volleyball career at Kean University but after one afternoon workout in the pool, her journey began.

Don Perkins, the women’s volleyball head coach, brought his volleyball team into the D’Angola Gym pool for a preseason workout with the women’s swimming coach. Then second-year head coach Chris Swenson could see Seeger’s talent in the pool.

“I can spot a swimmer within about 10 seconds of watching them swim,” Swenson said. “I asked her ‘are you a swimmer?’ She said, ‘yes, and I would actually be under a few of those school records.’ Then I asked if she would swim for me and she said ‘no.’ Then one day, a few weeks later I turned around in my office and she said ‘I’ll do it.’”

On Friday, Oct. 29, Junior Sian Seeger completed a rarely done feat —  competing in two sports in one day.

In a matter of six hours that Friday afternoon, Seeger went from warming up for her swim meet against Rowan University, to swimming in four races, to warming up for the volleyball match against Gwynedd Mercy University, to playing in several sets in that match.

“She was looking forward to it,” said her father, Greg Seeger. “When it’s game time, she turns it on. That’s what she does in volleyball, swimming, and whatever she does.”

Seeger competed in the 200-yard medley relay, the 100-yard backstroke, the 50-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard freestyle before packing up and warming up to play with the women’s volleyball team. She posted times of 1:58.20, 1:09.21, 28.72, and 1:07.03 in each race respectively.

Following the meet, Seeger then played in two sets in the women’s volleyball 3-0 victory over Gwynedd Mercy University, obtaining one dig and one reception overall.

Competing in multiple sports is not new to Seeger. Since her childhood, she has been competing in gymnastics, ballet, tap dancing, softball, and swimming. In high school, she added volleyball. 

“At six years old she was swimming in one event, then we would run across the street to the softball field, change into her uniform, play softball, run back across the street to swim in her afternoon swim meets,” said her mother, Iris Seeger. 

For Seeger, playing multiple sports is something that she enjoys.

“I thought it was fun,” she said. “It was more like I was playing with friends. I never really had the opportunity to do this again because, in high school, seasons do not overlap.”

Growing up in a military family, Seeger has lived in several areas around the world, including Italy and Japan before her family settled in Leesburg, Virginia where she attended high school.

Seeger had only been playing volleyball seriously for two years in high school when Perkins began trying to recruit her, but she was a regular attendant at volleyball camps that were held on the Kean University campus.

“She has a personality that you remember,” Perkins said. “At a camp, there are 70 girls and this one person leaves an impression on you. I thought this is a neat person. We kept in touch, and the next year she was up here for every camp, she was here for every other game. It was almost like she had been here forever.”

One of Seeger’s defining traits that both of her coaches noticed is that she is a coachable player, on top of being a great teammate.

“It means being open for anything,” Seeger said. “You never know what your team is going to need. If someone falls out or can’t do something and they look at you, that’s your time to shine and show that you can do anything that they ask you to do.”

Seeger has had a lot of success so far in her Kean Athletics career. She won New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week in her freshman year in women’s swimming. She also holds second-place and third-place in the all-time Kean women’s swimming records in the 50-yard breaststroke and 100-yard breaststroke.

In addition to her success in the pool, on the volleyball floor, she has 165 total digs in her career, most of which came in this 2021 season.

Seeger’s parents make the five-hour trip from Virginia to Union, N.J. whenever she has a match to play or swim meet and are very proud of the player, teammate, and person she has become.

“Playing multiple sports is a great feat for anybody,” Greg Seeger said. “She is a great ambassador for Kean, she loves it. Her demeanor and her humility are huge. She knows how good she is, but she won’t let you know it. She shows it on the court, she shows it in the water, and that’s where it stays. That’s how gracious she is, whether in defeat or in victory. That’s what we’re proud of, the young adult she has come to be.”

Seeger will look to finish the volleyball season with her teammates in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament on Friday, Oct. 12, and Saturday, Oct. 13. 

“I would really like to get our final wins before our season ends,” Seeger said.

When the volleyball season officially ends, she will look to continue swimming throughout the Winter with the women’s swimming team.

“It just makes me so proud to be able to see her fulfill her wish of being able to play a collegiate sport,” Iris Seeger said. “She’s loving it and I’m one proud mother.”

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