SPIRE Academy Matriculates Its Swimmers to the Best Schools in the Nation

GENEVA, Ohio, March 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SPIRE Academy—a sports boarding school located in Geneva, Ohio—is pleased to offer in this space a thorough explanation of how and why it's able to consistently send its student athletes to the best schools for swimming in the country.

"We have a full-time staff here, whose sole job is to help our student athletes find just the right school. They help with the search itself, finding the perfect opportunities to hone in on from the vast array of choices out there. They help with athletic scholarships: no small thing, given the highly arcane nature of that process. They help with grants and financial aid. They even help student athletes and their families fill out all the necessary forms. In short, they're there for every aspect of the planning, placement and recruiting process. It's exactly this kind of holistic attention you can expect if you swim for SPIRE Academy."

So says Thad Schultz, Director of Aquatics and Head Coach of Swimming at SPIRE. Schultz himself is no stranger to the planning, placement and recruiting process. He coached at the collegiate level for more than 10 years, including at Penn State, Ohio State, and Clemson. Schultz came to SPIRE in 2015, and in his time here has helped send numerous student athletes off to the nation's top swimming schools. Here's the shortlist:

• Omar Sherif—Currently a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, DI.
• Yassen Eltaranisy—Currently a sophomore at Grand Valley State, DII.
• Andre McCloud—Currently a senior at Kenyon College, DIII.
• Morgan Wagner—Currently committed to Georgia Southern University, DI.
• Chloe Mullens—Currently committed to Indiana University, Indianapolis, DI.
• Youseff Awad—Currently committed to Grand Valley State, DII.
• Arsenii Nikitin—Currently committed to Grand Valley State, DII.

Most famously perhaps, after having broken record after record swimming for school and country, Erkhes Enkthur of Mongolia recently committed to Virginia Tech. Erkhes' commitment makes three swimmers in a row, along with Yasmine Abdel Nasser and Mia Corrado, who have moved on to VT Swimming after attending SPIRE.

Coaching swimming at some of the country's biggest colleges definitely has its perks for SPIRE student athletes. As you can imagine, Schultz has collected quite a larger number of college-coaching contacts over the years. These are resources he and his fellow coaches can tap into for SPIRE swimmers as they prepare to matriculate, but there's more to his years spent coaching at the collegiate level than even that considerable benefit.

Schultz: "Something we do here—something not done at other sports academies—is visit colleges. This year we went to Ohio State. We met with coaches, talked about the recruiting process and talked about what they're looking for in their swimmers. We also went to Kenyon College, which is one of the top DIII swimming schools in the country, and did the same thing. We want our student athletes to be as prepared as they can be, so when they commit to a college and show up on campus it's not a new experience for them. At SPIRE, we prepare our young people for next-level success in every aspect." 

Call it immersive preparation. It's one of the benefits of attending a sports boarding school like SPIRE. Collegiate-level swimming will place demands on the student athlete well beyond the sport itself, so SPIRE trains to such levels in many different ways. For example, daily schedules at SPIRE mimic those student athletes will face in college, so when SPIRE swimmers matriculate they're ready to perform physically, psychologically and managerially. Again, Schultz: "Our student athletes are going to leave here better than they came in, and not just athletically. These student athletes arrive here as young as 14, so they have a lot of life skills to learn. They're suddenly going to have a roommate. They're going to have to do their own laundry. They have to be proactive about their schoolwork. And so on. All of this will serve them well when they go off to college."

The considerable coaching talents and experience of Coach Schultz and his team aside, the college planning, placement and recruiting process for SPIRE student athletes begins in freshman year (or whichever grade they arrive at) and doesn't end until they've committed to a program. This process is all-encompassing: every teacher, administrator, and coach is mentally geared toward moving student athletes to the next level, as is every academic and athletic program and protocol they'll encounter in their time here.

"These young people aren't at the collegiate level yet," says Schultz, "We get that. Our job is to move them along, step by step, to the next destination on their sports journey. Our boarding school program accomplishes exactly that, whether it's via athletics, academics, helping swimmers zero in on the right program, or getting swimmers in front of the right coach at the right time. We don't have a big team here, but every one of them wants to be great. They're all trying to do the same thing, striving together as a team and separately, as individual athletes. The two go hand in hand. It's fun, but it also raises the stakes for everyone. It's a part of the SPIRE college placement process as much as anything else."

Media Contact:
Monica Kolbay
[email protected] 

About SPIRE Academy

SPIRE Academy is a comprehensive academic, athletic, personal skills and college-and-career development boarding school located in a world-class event and wellness complex located in Ohio's Harpersfield Township. Constructed on 750 acres under 850,000 square feet of roof, SPIRE Academy (spireacademy.com) has five divisions: (1) SPIRE Academy & Camps, an accredited college-preparatory international boarding school and multi-sport/specialty training and development academy for grades 9-12 and post-grads; (2) SPIRE Leagues, Clubs & Professional Teams, including SPIRE Academy affiliated leagues and club programs; (3) SPIRE Events, a facility and associated team that host local, national and international tournaments and events with the NCAA, the Big East, Big Ten, Atlantic 10 conferences, the Olympics and world championship qualifiers; (4) SPIRE Institute, the research and development arm of SPIRE Academy, studying performance improvement across multiple disciplines through corporate affiliations and university relationships; and finally (5) SPIRE Fit, a membership-based fitness, swim, personal training and health center open to the community. Sports currently featured at SPIRE Academy include men's and women's basketball, esports, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.

SOURCE SPIRE Academy