By William Battle, III & Caroline Bryant
Sports Editor & Editor-in-Chief
A highly-anticipated highlight of this summer in the sports world is the 2024 Paris Olympics. This year’s summer games will feature four familiar names from Florida Southern’s past, representing three different countries at the prestigious events.
Dylan Travis, ’16 (3×3 Basketball)
Dylan Travis and Team USA enter new territory as they represent the very first team fielded by the United States for 3×3 basketball in Olympic play. Tokyo 2020 was the competition’s debut, where Latvia won the men’s gold, and the women’s gold was taken home by Team USA.
“It’s very exciting. I feel like it is a full circle moment for me,” Travis said. “In 2019, I was at the Tokyo Olympic camp and didn’t make the team, so now four or five years later, I made the team for Paris. Basketball has just been a huge blessing to me, and has brought me to some cool places.”
Olympic basketball was never previously an aspiration for Travis, but he’s taking it in stride.
“I knew I wanted to play professionally in the eighth grade, assuming it would be 5-on-5, which I did until COVID happened, and then I got introduced to 3×3. Things have just kept getting better year by year [as I] rose the ranks and made Team USA in the sport.”
He will be joined by familiar names in the sport, Jimmer Fredette (Brigham Young University), Canyon Barry (University of Florida) and Kareem Maddox (Princeton). They are no strangers to success, as they took home the gold in 2022’s Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) event.
“Gold medal is always the expectation for [the] USA,” Travis said. “For me, I just want to give a spark and continue to be the all-around player that I am to help the team win.”
To perform at the highest level, Travis always makes sure he’s not overwhelming himself physically or mentally.. Since can travel around the world for weeks at a time, Travis likes to keep a relaxed schedule when he’s at home to keep him on the top of his game.
“When I’m home in the states, I wake up to work out at 7:30 a.m.,” Travis said. “Then [I] lift weights directly after…hit my coffee shop to read my book and catch up on emails. In the evening, I’ll go for a walk or complete a yoga session.”
Although it has been nearly a decade since his experience at Florida Southern, Travis credits his tenure as a Moc with his adjustment to international life.
“It was my first time being away from home, going down to Florida at FSC,” Travis said. “I’m from Nebraska, so that was a big move. And now, ever since then, I’ve been on the move every year to a different country or state, so FSC prepared me for that.”
Not only did FSC help him later in his international transition, but it immediately impacted him as an individual.
“I also became a better person,” Travis said. “The students and faculty were so nice and welcoming, [which led to my becoming] a better student in the classroom and my skills [improving] on the court.”
Ludovico Viberti, ’22 (Swimming)
Ludovico Viberti specializes in the 100m breaststroke – the event in which he will represent his home country of Italy this summer. For Viberti, the Olympics have always held a special place in his heart.
“I think every athlete’s dream is to one day be able to go to the Olympics, because it’s the most important stage where you can compete,” Viberti said.“So, obviously, it was a dream of mine, and throughout my career…I’ve always had a lot of confidence in myself and in my abilities; I just had to be patient and go step by step.”
He plans to take that confident and competitive mentality with him to Paris.
“Expectations are high, as they should be,” Viberti said. “We are going to compete against the best in the world, it’s going to be really exciting, but we are not going there just to have fun. Personally, I’m not a participation guy – I like to win. I like to beat the guy next to me, so I’m going there to be the best version of myself.”
Viberti has always carried a chip on his shoulder when competing in his sport.
“I have never considered swimming…a hobby,” Viberti said. “I’ve always had the mentality of being the best, so for me it was always serious. I set new goals at the beginning of every season, and I do whatever it takes to achieve them.”
That said, he’s been preparing for a race of this magnitude for years now. His experiences at FSC – and in America in general – helped him along the way.
“When I went to America, I…realized how different the sport can be approached and done,” Viberti said. “The training, the schedule, the competitions…a lot of things were different, so I took my time to adjust and to learn a new system, and I believe doing that helped me to grow faster as a swimmer.”
He then test-ran his new approach when he returned to Europe. Alongside more international meets, from the World University Games in China to the World Swimming Championships in Doha, Viberti empowered his fresh mindset to hurdle over any challenges along the way.
NCAA Division II National Champion, College Sports Communicators Team Member of the Year, All-SSC honors and College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Individual and Team Scholar All American are just some of the successes Kyle Micallef has had in 2024 – competing in the Paris Olympics is just another item added to the list.
Though he hails from Melbourne, Australia, he will represent Malta as their top male swimmer, honoring his paternal side of the family from the Mediterranean island.
“The Maltese national team reached out to me four years ago, and I started competing for the country last year during my summer break from Florida Southern,” Micallef told FSC Athletics.
His Olympic journey as a Maltese competitor started at the 31st Easter Meet and National Championships in April. There, he received 1st in the 50m freestyle, 100 LCM freestyle, 100m fly and 50m backstroke.
He later advanced to the European Aquatics Championships in June, competing in the 50 LCM free and 50m fly. In the 50 free prelims, Micallef received a season’s best time of 22.80 seconds, setting the Maltese national record.
That time earned him 771 FINA (World Aquatics) points, enough to occupy a spot in Paris for the same event that crowned him a NCAA champion.
“I am so grateful to the Malta ASA for the opportunity to represent the country at the Olympics,” Micallef told FSC Athletics. “I know my family is proud and this is an amazing honor to represent Malta, and those in my family who have passed, on a world stage.”
Jenson Van Emburgh (Paralympic Table Tennis)
Van Emburgh was born with a spinal cord injury, confining him to a wheelchair and making him a Class 3 Table Tennis athlete. His disability hasn’t hindered his athletic success, returning to his second Paralympics as a favorite.
As the No. 11 seed, Van Emburgh upset No. 4 in Tokyo to earn bronze. Now, he is boosted to No. 3 seed, following behind the 2021 Olympic silver medalist, Thomas Schmidberger from Germany, and the 2021 Olympic gold medalist, Panfeng Feng from China.
His rank improvement has spiked confidence heading into the upcoming games. He explained that the last time he played against Schmidberger, it was a close match, losing to the German competitor only by two points. The man to beat, in Van Emburgh’s eyes, is Feng – he’s never lost a match in the Paralympics.
In preparation, Van Emburgh trains twice a day two times a week, and once a day the rest of the week. After training sessions, he partakes in matches with members at his club. At tournaments, he tries to squeeze in at least one warm-up, analyzing the conditions of the table and space and how they may affect his game.
“It’s really exciting because this time around there will be fans, and I’ll have my family and friends there, which we missed out on in Tokyo because of COVID,” Van Emburgh said. “I had my mom there because she is my PCA, Professional Care Assistant, but my dad couldn’t be there, my brother couldn’t be there, none of my friends could’ve flown out to see.”
He hails from a tennis family, with his brother playing collegiate tennis and his dad, Greg Van Emburgh, being a previous head coach for men’s tennis at FSC. That said, he first indulged in wheelchair tennis. However, the fast-paced game was difficult because of Van Emburgh’s disability. After trial and error – wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey – he finally landed on table tennis.
“I tried wheelchair basketball, but I couldn’t shoot the ball into the hoop high enough when I was young,” Van Emburgh said. “So, that was kind of really discouraging. Then, I found table tennis, which was easier for my disability, and I picked it up quickly. I continued, I enjoyed it and I found it really fun.”
Just like adapting to life’s challenges as a person with a disability, finding life’s purpose can take time. That’s why Van Emburgh encourages everyone to never give up.
“If someone is struggling with a disability or facing hardships in their life [should] keep going and to find something they have passion for. It could be a sport, it could be an art, it could be a study. For me, mine is table tennis. That keeps me going, happy, and a better, stronger person everyday…there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Bad days build better days.”
When to watch
The 2024 Paris Olympic opening ceremony will begin July 26 at 1:30 p.m. EST, where students can watch Travis, Viberti and Micallef begin their journey towards gold. As the Mocs head back to school, check back on Aug. 28 to cheer on Van Emburgh in the Paralympic opening ceremony.