{"id":2538,"date":"2016-06-28T20:27:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T20:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:56:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:56:46","slug":"going-for-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/2016\/06\/28\/going-for-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"“Going For the Wall”"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the Friday before Commencement, WM sat down with Zechariah Banks \u201916\u2014 the religion major\/political science minor and two-time All-American\u2014to discover what drives this swimmer who broke seven school records during his career at Wabash.<\/em><\/p>\n

You transferred to Wabash from Indiana University after your freshman year. Why?<\/em>
\n<\/span>The swimming program was great there, but I was going the wrong direction academically, not really focusing on school, just hanging out.<\/p>\n

I felt secluded, restricted. It just wasn\u2019t the right fit. I was never looking ahead\u2014just living for the moment.<\/p>\n

Wabash had been my second choice, so after I left IU I called Coach [Steve] Barnes and asked if I could transfer.<\/p>\n

Was IU to Wabash a difficult transition?<\/em> <\/span>
\nAcademically it was tougher, but three of the guys I swam with at Carmel High School\u2014Elliot Johns \u201916, Clayton Highum \u201916, and Jack Belford \u201916\u2014were here.<\/p>\n

So the curriculum here was harder, but for some reason my grades shot up. I felt more driven, more focused. I was surrounded by people who were like-minded.<\/p>\n

The best thing that Wabash did for me was to give me a better trajectory in life\u2014pushed me in different directions, helped me explore what I really wanted to do, and what I needed to do to get there.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most difficult challenge you\u2019ve encountered in your life?<\/span>
\nI got hit by a car when I was in 5th grade\u2014shattered my pelvis, broke my femur in half. We were on a field trip to Cincinnati, it was after the Reds game, and I was walking across the street in Harrison, OH, the last person in my group.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember it\u2014I do remember being in the helicopter, being in the hospital.
\nI had to relearn how to walk. That year I had been running cross-country, playing basketball, I was sidelined for about a year.<\/p>\n

Is that when you began swimming?<\/span>
\nNo. I started when I was younger. My mom is a dentist, her practice is near downtown, and she knew an instructor at IUPUI in that natatorium.<\/p>\n

[But after the accident] my doctor told me that swimming would be the best physical therapy, and that\u2019s what got me back in the pool.<\/p>\n

Did that recovery instill your work ethic?<\/span> <\/em>
\nI\u2019d say my work ethic helped me get through the rehab, and that made my work ethic stronger. I just had no other option but to do what I needed to do to get back to where I wanted to be.
\nYou and your fellow seniors broke 15 school records, and you\u2019re the first Wabash All-American in swimming since Grant Comer in 1996. It\u2019s a team sport, but you compete individually.<\/p>\n

How do your teammates help you succeed?<\/em><\/span>
\nIn swimming, it comes down to who is going to give up less. There aren\u2019t any big secrets in training, so when two guys are going for the wall, it comes down to who wants it more.<\/p>\n

When you go to a meet and see your teammates doing well\u2014like last year in the NCAC conference meet when Jack [Belford] won the 500\u2014you can see the whole team elevate. When you see your teammates do good, you don\u2019t want to be the one who doesn\u2019t follow suit.<\/p>\n

What has been your favorite Wabash moment?\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
\nJust hanging out in the Swim House at 33 Harry Freedman Place. We\u2019re really close.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite Wabash tradition<\/span><\/em>?
\nMonon Bell Week. The whole campus unites against DePauw, supports all the teams.<\/p>\n

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, what are you doing in that picture?\u00a0<\/em><\/span>
\nHelping people. I feel like I\u2019ve been blessed and helped a lot in life. Countless people have helped me. People talk about being a self-made man\u2014I feel like it\u2019s kind of hard to be a self-made man, because other people are always helping you.<\/p>\n

The swim team gives lessons to kids during the year\u2014has that been part of the \u201chelping\u201d picture?\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
\nWe see ourselves in the kids, when we learned how to swim. We get to give back a little, and it\u2019s just fun. They really try, and that makes the best kids.<\/p>\n

I had one student\u2014Reva Douglas\u2014all four years. She was easy to teach, all excited about learning. Sometimes she\u2019d jump in the water by herself before she could even swim!<\/p>\n

Now she can swim all by herself, I don\u2019t even have to be in the water with her. It was pretty cool to see that.<\/p>\n

ZECHARIAH BANKS \u20191<\/strong>6
\nMajor\/minor: Religion\/political science
\nCareer plans: Law school\u2014\u201cI\u2019d like to go into sports law; I\u2019d like to be a lawyer for the Chicago Bears.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the Friday before Commencement, WM sat down with Zechariah Banks \u201916\u2014 the religion major\/political science minor and two-time All-American\u2014to discover what drives this swimmer who broke seven school records during his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speaking-of-sports","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/06\/12vzech-banks-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2540,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions\/2540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}