Imagine jumping into a freezing pool at 6 a.m. and swimming until you feel your lungs will explode. Tired and hurting, you keep pushing yourself. Finally you finish and feel proud yet exhausted. Then you run. You run to another competition. There are no pools in this competition but rather water balloons that are to be thrown at sorority girls for points. After winning first place with your sisters, you feel proud once again.

This is the chaotic life of Jamie Saffer. She says she would not change a thing.

Saffer is a sophomore on the UT Swim Team as well as a new initiate of the social sorority Zeta Tau Alpha. She is one of 27 athletes who also belong to a social sorority on campus. Saffer chooses to balance her time around swim meets, school work and sorority events.

“I was tired of the same people all the time,” Saffer said. “I love my swim team, but I’m the type of person that needs to do something else besides swimming. If I don’t have something going every second I just sit in my room and eat.”

Her swim coach, Matthew Kredich, was not excited to hear that Saffer joined a sorority at first. “Jamie is an outstanding swimmer,” Kredich said. “She went head to head in the 200 breaststroke with a woman from Florida who ended up being the NCAA Swimmer of the Year. Saffer destroyed her. Then at the NCAA tournament she finished 12th, earning All-American Honors and a shot at the Olympic trials. I felt that another big commitment would make it tougher for her to focus on swimming.”

But since Saffer has joined ZTA, her swimming has only improved.

“I love being a Zeta, and I have had really good practices because I am a lot happier,” Saffer said.

Her swim team, or as Saffer refers to as her “family,” was supportive of this decision.

“Jamie knows her first priority is swimming,” said teammate Sarah McCall, “We swim 10 times a week so obviously our lifestyle is different from most other students. Swimming does get really hard when we are in season, and it’s sometimes hard to have a social life, so I’m glad Jamie gets to experience a sorority.”

A fear that Saffer had was that she would not be a committed sorority member since her first priority was swimming. But according to Zeta’s new member educator, Maggie Keele, Saffer has already proved herself a great attribute to Zeta.

“Jamie has participated in more events than some of our other members, which shows that people that are involved in different things can be involved with Greek life too,” Keele said. “Jamie has also already made an impact on me. She lightens the mood, and since I have to work and teach the new members, she definitely made meetings more fun for me.”

Even though Saffer will continue to balance her time, she can still enjoy the benefits of having sisters in both her sorority and her swim team.

“I will never regret joining ZTA,” She said. “I have the best of both worlds. I’m an athlete and in a sorority. Plus it would be really cool if I had a daughter, maybe she would be a Zeta too.”