Ecton Lawrence "Ji" Billiot Jr.
July 7, 2008
Jaime Pineda
July 11, 2008
The senior year of high school is often described as “the best year of your life.”
For a great athlete, that can be especially true. He or she is looked up to as a leader and has colleges in close pursuit with scholarship offers.
That’s especially true for Vandebilt senior swimmer Amber Pierce.
However, the colleges may walk away empty-handed, as the six-time state champion decided a couple months ago not to pursue the sport at the collegiate level.
SportsNet caught up with the 17-year-old as she prepared for the summer league championships on Saturday to talk about her decision, leading the Lady Terriers to a fifth state title and her future without swimming.
SportsNet: Have you won the freestyle state titles every year at Vandebilt?
Amber Pierce: My eighth grade year, I got second place in the 50 [meter] and the 100 [meter]. In ninth grade, 10th grade and last year I won the 50- and the 100-meter freestyle.
SN: How often do you swim?
AP: I used to swim year-round for the Bayou Barracudas. I decided about a couple of months ago to quit the Barracudas because I decided not to swim for college anymore. So I decided to just focus on school. Because of that my grades have gotten better, so that’s good. I’m still working really hard during the summer because I really want to do well my last high school year.
SN: Did you quit the Barracudas solely for academic reasons?
AP: I was getting college letters, and the more I was thinking about what college I wanted to go to, I was thinking swimming was such a big part of my life. School was really hard for me now while I’m in high school because I was in swimming. It takes up so much of your life. If you’re into swimming and you’re dedicated to it, it takes up your entire life. So I decided for a little while, I would focus on my grades. If I feel like getting back into it, my coach said he would gladly help me get back into shape.
SN: But you are still going to swim for Vandebilt next season.
AP: Yes, I’m swimming at Vandebilt next year. I couldn’t miss that my senior year.
SN: How often do you train?
AP: Whenever I swam for the Bayou Barracudas, I swam every day. During the summer, we swim three hours a day, and then we did an hour of dry land. During school 2024, sometimes [coach Frank Shepherd] made us swim in the morning, but then in the afternoon, every day after school, we’d have to go swim for two hours.
SN: What other competitions have you been in besides Vandebilt and summer leagues?
AP: The year-round team is part of USA Swimming, so we travel. We have a lot of meets in Louisiana. Since Hurricane Katrina, we’ve had to swim in Baton Rouge or in Sulphur. We used to swim at UNO, but we can’t anymore. Our coach is constantly trying to find us other places to go swimming. He wants us to have a national ranking. Since we have such a small team, we don’t rank very high in Louisiana team-wise, but we do have the highest percentage of first places.
SN: I hear you want to go to college in California. Any particular school in mind?
AP: I actually always wanted to go to USC. I visited the campus for water polo one time. Water polo is kind of a side thing coach [Shepard] lets us do for fun. I went there for a tournament one year and … I just love it. The atmosphere was awesome. I loved every minute of it. I would really love to go to USC, but if not, then I’m looking to go to LSU right now. If I don’t swim, then I’m going to have to stay in Louisiana to get TOPS and stuff. LSU is a big university and that’s what I want, what I’m looking for.
SN: You are not thinking about majors yet?
AP: Actually, I am. I’m looking at going in civil law or public relations.
