Men's Swimming Partners with Team IMPACT to Sign 16-Year-Old Johnathan Sosbe
11/10/2022 1:58:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Sosbe Family visited the pool on Johnathan's birthday for special ceremony
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue men's swimming partnered with Team IMPACT to welcome Johnathan Sosbe into the program, a process that became official with Johnathan's visit to the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center on the night of his 16th birthday this fall for a National Letter of Intent signing.
The son of Michael and Jessica Sosbe of Crawfordsville, Indiana, Johnathan is also a competitive swimmer. He was born with hemophilia.
Team IMPACT provides a safe, supportive and encouraging environment for a child and the family to connect with a college athletic team, with the goal of filling the void left when traditional support systems are lacking for children living with a chronic or life-threatening illness. Purdue coaches Dan Ross and Alex Jerden decided that 2022 was the right time for the program to partner with Team IMPACT and in turn the connection with the Sosbe Family came to fruition.
"Today is an opportunity for us to officially welcome you to our team and for us to join your team. We don't take that lightly. It's a big day for you, but it's also a really big day for us," Ross said to open the Nov. 2 signing ceremony held at the aquatic center.
Purdue swimmers Blake Ratliff, Charlie King and Ethan Shaw played a key role in the process as the leadership team that spearheaded the partnership with Team IMPACT on the student-athlete side.
"It has brought great joy into Johnathan's life knowing he has a sports family," Michael Sosbe wrote in a thank you letter to the team.
"I'm really excited to welcome Johnathan, officially, to our program – but he's already been here," King said. "Over fall break, I remember training with him and next to him. One day in the middle of the week he was here, he said 'I'm exhausted but I can't wait to come back tomorrow.' It was that tenacity that we all have – I love it. Dan's always talking about 'find your love for swimming.' You can see it with Johnathan every time he's here, every time he's in the pool. We're excited to have that with us."
Flanked by King and Shaw to his right and his parents to his left, Johnathan signed his NLI paperwork as part of a joyous 16th birthday celebration at the pool. He was serenated with a rendition of Hail Purdue, issued his team gear and apparel, and presented with a large birthday cake that all in attendance shared. But the real fun followed as the dive well became the playground for the night. While sporting his new Purdue speedo, Johnathan showed no fear in jumping in off boards and platforms of various heights. He demonstrated flips, spins, turns, cannonballs and even teamed up with Dylan Burau for some synchronized diving off the 1-meter springboards.
"I just wanted to point out the quality of fit you are for this group. I noticed this on the very first Zoom call [with the team]," Jerden said during the ceremony. "You are authentically yourself for a 15-year-old – now 16-year-old, happy birthday – in front of these guys. You dove right into our Zoom calls sight unseen and then later we would find out you weren't afraid to dive for a frisbee in ultimate frisbee. That kind of authenticity and outgoingness is something we want in our team.
"It's an awesome thing to get to know you the way that we have so far – to integrate you into some of our practices. You've gone all-in on the dive set, which was as difficult as anything these guys have done. You've got a lot to be proud of and hopefully there's some value that you can take from us. Ultimately this program is going to be better because of you. Thank you."
"Johnathan personifies everything that it means to be a Boilermaker," Shaw said. "The perfect example of this was a couple weeks ago when he had big surgery coming up at the end of the week. All throughout that week, he continued to be part of our team and he was in the water training like us every day. His strength and courage are important to everyone on the team and he's going to continue to inspire us towards success."
"Since Johnathan was little and first got into swimming, two things have remained consistent in his life – being a swimmer and attending Purdue," Michael Sosbe detailed in his letter. "This has truly been a blessing to Johnathan. To see a group like this team fully accept him has made a great difference. He has been more focused in doing his homework, going to school, and truly putting in more effort in what he does. This team has truly made an impact on him already. To see his eyes light up when he knows that we are coming to see you guys, just makes the struggle he goes through a little less. He is always excited to be around the team, even if it's just via Zoom that day. This experience has truly changed Johnathan."
Founded in 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 2,500 children with 700-plus universities, impacting countless student-athletes and families alike.
Team IMPACT has many teams across the country waiting to be matched with children, ages 5-16, who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening or chronic illness and who could benefit from becoming a member of the team. If you know a child who may be interested, please visit TeamImpact.org for more information.
The son of Michael and Jessica Sosbe of Crawfordsville, Indiana, Johnathan is also a competitive swimmer. He was born with hemophilia.
Team IMPACT provides a safe, supportive and encouraging environment for a child and the family to connect with a college athletic team, with the goal of filling the void left when traditional support systems are lacking for children living with a chronic or life-threatening illness. Purdue coaches Dan Ross and Alex Jerden decided that 2022 was the right time for the program to partner with Team IMPACT and in turn the connection with the Sosbe Family came to fruition.
"Today is an opportunity for us to officially welcome you to our team and for us to join your team. We don't take that lightly. It's a big day for you, but it's also a really big day for us," Ross said to open the Nov. 2 signing ceremony held at the aquatic center.
Purdue swimmers Blake Ratliff, Charlie King and Ethan Shaw played a key role in the process as the leadership team that spearheaded the partnership with Team IMPACT on the student-athlete side.
"It has brought great joy into Johnathan's life knowing he has a sports family," Michael Sosbe wrote in a thank you letter to the team.
"I'm really excited to welcome Johnathan, officially, to our program – but he's already been here," King said. "Over fall break, I remember training with him and next to him. One day in the middle of the week he was here, he said 'I'm exhausted but I can't wait to come back tomorrow.' It was that tenacity that we all have – I love it. Dan's always talking about 'find your love for swimming.' You can see it with Johnathan every time he's here, every time he's in the pool. We're excited to have that with us."
Flanked by King and Shaw to his right and his parents to his left, Johnathan signed his NLI paperwork as part of a joyous 16th birthday celebration at the pool. He was serenated with a rendition of Hail Purdue, issued his team gear and apparel, and presented with a large birthday cake that all in attendance shared. But the real fun followed as the dive well became the playground for the night. While sporting his new Purdue speedo, Johnathan showed no fear in jumping in off boards and platforms of various heights. He demonstrated flips, spins, turns, cannonballs and even teamed up with Dylan Burau for some synchronized diving off the 1-meter springboards.
"I just wanted to point out the quality of fit you are for this group. I noticed this on the very first Zoom call [with the team]," Jerden said during the ceremony. "You are authentically yourself for a 15-year-old – now 16-year-old, happy birthday – in front of these guys. You dove right into our Zoom calls sight unseen and then later we would find out you weren't afraid to dive for a frisbee in ultimate frisbee. That kind of authenticity and outgoingness is something we want in our team.
"It's an awesome thing to get to know you the way that we have so far – to integrate you into some of our practices. You've gone all-in on the dive set, which was as difficult as anything these guys have done. You've got a lot to be proud of and hopefully there's some value that you can take from us. Ultimately this program is going to be better because of you. Thank you."
"Johnathan personifies everything that it means to be a Boilermaker," Shaw said. "The perfect example of this was a couple weeks ago when he had big surgery coming up at the end of the week. All throughout that week, he continued to be part of our team and he was in the water training like us every day. His strength and courage are important to everyone on the team and he's going to continue to inspire us towards success."
"Since Johnathan was little and first got into swimming, two things have remained consistent in his life – being a swimmer and attending Purdue," Michael Sosbe detailed in his letter. "This has truly been a blessing to Johnathan. To see a group like this team fully accept him has made a great difference. He has been more focused in doing his homework, going to school, and truly putting in more effort in what he does. This team has truly made an impact on him already. To see his eyes light up when he knows that we are coming to see you guys, just makes the struggle he goes through a little less. He is always excited to be around the team, even if it's just via Zoom that day. This experience has truly changed Johnathan."
Founded in 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 2,500 children with 700-plus universities, impacting countless student-athletes and families alike.
Team IMPACT has many teams across the country waiting to be matched with children, ages 5-16, who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening or chronic illness and who could benefit from becoming a member of the team. If you know a child who may be interested, please visit TeamImpact.org for more information.
