On Tap with ... Megan Charles

Megan Charles is a junior on the women’s swimming and diving team. Charles competed on Trinidad and Tobago’s swimming and water polo national teams before coming to Princeton. After competing on both the water polo team and swimming team at Princeton for one year, she dropped water polo to focus solely on swimming. She is also a self-described “science nerd” who is majoring in chemistry.

Q: What was your “welcome to college” moment?

A: I did international student pre-orientation, and I got dropped off to my room with a welcome package, but nobody had explained to me what a prox was. I was stuck standing outside my building with all my luggage wondering, “How do I get in?” until somebody walked by, proxed me in, and explained what a prox was.

Q: Who is your professional athletic role model?

A: I don’t really have one. I’ve always looked to the people around me as opposed to professional athletes. Observing the upperclassmen and the underclassmen too — how hard they work and what they strive to do — has kept me motivated.

Q: Where are you from?

A: Trinidad and Tobago. It’s an island in the Caribbean. It’s what you would expect for a Caribbean island. It’s warm and sunny there all the time. We’re also very diverse, and you can’t really tell with ethnicity there. Lots of people don’t even know that it exists. They’ll say, “Where are you from?” And I’ll say, “Oh, Trinidad and Tobago,” and they get this blank look on their face and you can tell that they don’t know where that is.

Q: Are Trinidad and Tobago two different islands?

A: Yes — two islands, one republic.

Q: What is the funniest thing about your coach, Susan Teeter?

A: I haven’t heard anything too outrageous about her, but she has this thing called Woopie — it’s a tiger-striped blanket that she pulls out during meets — and she waves it. I’m not sure if Woopie has ever been washed, but it comes out every single meet.

Q: What has been your favorite class at Princeton?

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A: I’m a big science nerd. I’m going to have to say organic chemistry. The exams were tough, but professor Erik Sorensen was hilarious.

Q: A tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it. Does it make a sound?

A: Yeah, I think it does. Just because there are no humans around doesn’t mean there aren’t any animals or something like that. I say yes, it definitely makes a sound.

Q: Do you have any pre-meet rituals?

A: I like to just visualize my race and imagine myself swimming it. We have a lot of team things that we do pre-meet. One of the things that we do is a team cheer with a cowbell. The men’s team has a designated person in charge of beating the cowbell, and I’m in charge of the cowbell on the women’s team. I don’t even know how it started, but it psyches me up a lot.

Q: If you could have a super power, what would it be?

A: Telekinesis, definitely. Telepathic powers in general are pretty cool. Flying is second after that.

Q: How long do you think you could hold your breath?

A: Not as long as you would think. Probably just over a minute.

Q: Who is your strangest teammate?

A: Now that’s a difficult question. We’re all kind of strange in a good way. If I had to pick one, I would say senior Megan Waters. She has no filter. She tends to say the most inappropriate things at the most random times. You never know what she’s going to say or do next.

Q: What is the best thing about being an athlete at Princeton?

A: Besides getting to eat whatever you want when you’re in season? My team. I love my team, and they keep me sane through all the academic stress. Also, the fridge stocked with chocolate milk in the team room and the animal crackers my coach keeps in her office.

Q: What is the worst thing about being an athlete at Princeton?

A: Not being able to stay awake in classes. Every Princeton student is plagued by that, but waking up for 6:30 a.m. practice after you haven’t had a lot of sleep is tough. Especially when it’s winter and it’s freezing outside, and you know you have to trudge down and jump into a cold pool.

Q: What is the most embarrassing song on your iPod?

A: “My Milkshake” by Kelis.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when not practicing?

A: Considering we practice all the time, that’s not a lot of time. Just doing anything that doesn’t require using your brain or using your body. Just lying on my futon, staring at Facebook — that would be the best thing in the world. Or going for frozen yogurt with friends at Twist.

Q: If you were a T-shirt, what color would you be?

A: Green. I developed an obsession with green a couple years ago. I went through a lime-green phase.

Q: What is your favorite book?

A: “Harry Potter” was good, but I really like the trilogy by Philip Pullman — “The Golden Compass,” “The Subtle Knife” and “The Amber Spyglass.”

Q: What do you think of Michael Phelps?

A: I think he must be superhuman.

Q: Which of your teammates gets the most guys/girls?

A: There’s definitely one girl in each class. For freshmen, it’s Maureen McCotter. For sophomores, it’s Carter Stephens. I feel like the underclassmen are really outdoing the upperclassmen recently. We should probably step up our game.