Get To Know – Nathan Fubio
“GET TO KNOW” FEATURES: Throughout the fall 2020 semester the Fairmont State Athletics Department will be posting “get to know” features to allow fans, donors, parents, and fellow student-athletes to get to know members of the 17 athletics programs at Fairmont State University. For today’s feature, we sat down with junior swimming standout Nathan Fubio.
Why did you choose Fairmont State?
“Coming in for a visit my senior year of high school I got to meet Coach Pat (Patrick Snively). He introduced me to the program and set a lot of goals and told me all that I could achieve and I really bought into it. Aside from athletics, it’s really close to home for me. It’s nice to know that my family is close to here and they can support me and I can come back home whenever I need to. I really do like their business school, too. It was a really good fit for me.”
Can you tell me your story/journey, about your family/friends and where you were raised?
“I grew up in Clarksburg and went to Robert C. Byrd High School. From a young age my mom really pushed swimming on me, and I made a lot of friends through it. She also swam in high school. She was also my first coach. I’m really grateful for a lot of my summer swim friends from when I was six-years-old. I’ve met a lot of great teammates, great friends through the sport of swimming. Especially getting into high school, the competitive side of it was really nice too. You meet a lot of great people all over the state and all over the tri-state area. It really does mean a lot to me. I really enjoy it.”
Biggest moment(s) thus far in and outside of the pool?
“I think the biggest moment was our performance last year at the conference meet. All of us in our sophomore class had some great experience. We had a lot of new guys ready to come up and win and we had some good transfers. We had a huge mentality to truly train hard together. That was the first moment that I really felt like swimming was a team sport. A lot of times in high school my team size was only like six kids. Last year we had 18. That was a time when we were a team. We were all on the same page. We all had the same mindset. We came in with a great attitude every day for practice. We progressed like that over the whole year. And then, our conference meet was just four days of absolute fight, win, and determination. That was really eye-opening and a great experience for me.”
Can you describe your relationships with teammates and coaches?
“Coach Pat is someone that I really look up to. He really strikes pride in all of us and makes sure we’re on top of it and shows us what it means to be a Fighting Falcon. It feels like we’re more than just teammates because we’re all on the same page with everything that we do. We all take school seriously. We take swimming seriously. We all have the same mindsets when it comes to workouts and winning meets. It’s really a tight-knit kind of group.”
How would you describe the culture of the team?
“We’re really banded together, men’s and women’s too. It’s nothing separate. We all have great mindsets coming into practice, 110 percent at practice and every meet that we go to. We fight no matter what we think the outcome is. We never give up, always show pride, and never show weakness.”
You earned the Most Improved Male Award for your team this past season. What does that mean to you?
“It really meant a lot to me. I was really proud to receive that award. After my freshman year and being part of that first collegiate conference meet, it was really eye-opening for me. Then, I knew what I could do here at Fairmont State under Coach Pat. I set goals sophomore year and I think I really increased my intensity this year. And my coaches and teammates saw that. I look forward to continuing to increase intensity, determination, workouts, and leadership ethics as shown in practice.”
Favorite aspect of the sport?
“It’s definitely the competition, because a lot of people think swimming is just an individual sport. Really, especially here at Fairmont, it’s the farthest thing from that. I know I can go in and score my own events, but we all do our practices together. We all work together. We’re all fighting for the same goal. So, it’s definitely a team sport more than anything.”
What does it mean for you to be a Falcon?
“It’s definitely pride, showing pride in Fairmont State and wearing the maroon and white to every meet. Coach Pat really drives pride into us. When we put on our swim caps and we have the Falcon on the side, he makes sure that we fight until the end no matter what.”
How motivated or anxious are you to compete right now?
“I’m very excited. I’m ready to get back in the water. I think the pandemic has done everything but slow me down. It’s just motivated me even more because I know that some people aren’t going out there and motivated so I’m trying to make sure that I’m still physically in shape. I’m trying to make sure that my teammates are still back in shape, because we got second place in our conference last year and that’s something that I haven’t forgotten and I want to make sure nobody else has forgotten either. We’ve really been grinding this offseason and we’re ready to get back in the water.”
What are your expectations for this spring?
“I have high expectations. We were hit pretty hard with a loss last year. I think none of us have forgotten that, and we’re all ready to come back and win this year. We’ve got a couple new freshmen, and we’re really looking to see them step up. We also didn’t lose any seniors last year. We have four seniors graduating this year, so I want to make sure that they graduate on top.”
Major: Finance. Expected Graduation: May 2022. Future plans?
“I want to go into the MBA program here at Fairmont State and while I’m here, I would like to stay on the swim team for a year or two as a graduate assistant coach.”
Have you been able stay engaged and connected with coaches and teammates during this time with the restrictions?
“Oh yeah, definitely. We have a group chat with all of our swimmers. We’ve been in contact with ourselves just to make sure we’re all doing great. Coach Pat and all of the coaching staff have done a great job with this. Since everything started back in March, we have had all five coaches who would each send us an email every week just to check in on us mentally that we’re doing okay and they’d send us dryland workouts. There was never really a time when we felt like we we’re alone during all of this. We all kind of stayed together. They did a really good job of staying connected to us.”
What has it been like you for as a student and person with online classes and the restrictions?
“It’s been a weird thing because online schooling is not expected. Luckily, it’s going better than expected. My professors have done a good job of making sure that we’re up to date on everything. I feel like my professors have done a pretty job of making sure that we’re still learning the information even with the difficulties of being online and everything going on right now.”
Do you think the pandemic has made your experience any less meaningful as a student-athlete?
“I don’t think it’s been less meaningful. As a student-athlete, I haven’t been impacted as much because my season ended right before everything kind of shut down. But it’s definitely been weird to adjust to especially right now going back to practice. We have to split up our lanes so we’re not really close to each other. We try to maintain that social distance and always wear a mask. We’re not really letting it slow us down as long as we’re getting back in the water we’re ready to train.”
Any activities/interests outside of school and your sport?
“Back home I’m in the 4-H program for Harrison County. I work with kids starting at the age of seven showing them leadership skills, different leadership roles that they can take, and community service actions in their cities, their counties, and even in their state.”
What is one thing you want people to know about you?
“Something that I stress is good health, physical and mental health. Everyone deserves to be happy in their life I feel like. So, I think it’s important to stress not only physically everyone is doing okay but also mentally so everyone is happy and has a good heart about themselves. I think that’s what we need more of in the world.”
