Senior
Matthew Bennici will be competing for Cambodia in the FINA World Swimming Championships. He leaves for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Dec. 12 for the 15th annual meet that takes place from Dec. 16-21.
Matthew's mother, Sensovann, immigrated to the United States from Cambodia in the 1980's and married Frank Bennici. The couple's four children – Matthew, Charles, Anthony, and Maria – have dual citizenship, which allows Matthew the opportunity to compete for the small nation of 16.7 million in Southeast Asia.  Â
"We are very proud of Matthew and couldn't think of a better person to represent UMBC and his family heritage on this stage," said UMBC head coach
Matt Donovan. "UMBC has a proud history of representing swimming on the international stage. Matthew is a very hard worker and has earned this honor through years of dedication to our sport. It will be very exciting to see what he does at the meet and I know he will come back to campus ready to share his experiences to help our team grow to even greater heights".
As a young swimmer in Frederick (Md.) County, Matthew had visions of swimming for the United States. Over time, he realized he might have a better opportunity to compete internationally for Cambodia. He contacted the country's federation in late
December of 2020Â and on Halloween of 2021, got the green light to compete in this year's event. Â Â
The timing is good in terms of his intercollegiate schedule, which takes a month-long break from competition after the Dec. 3-5 ECAC Winter Championships. According to Matthew, "it's not great" academically, as he will have to complete final exams before departing.
"It was definitely very stressful, the last few weeks in planning for it, but it's very exciting," said Bennici. "I get to go to someplace I've never been before and might not be able to go again, so I think it's worth it."
Matthew will be competing in the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Despite all of the disruptions to the athletes' training schedules in 2020-21 due to COVID-19, he feels ready to give his best effort.
"I'm pretty confident I can be around my best right now," said Bennici. "The coaching staff has done a lot of new things for me and right now – although my body is not the same as it used to be before COVID - I think I'm doing things I couldn't have done before."
Although the COVID year was difficult, it did reunite Matthew with younger brother Charles, who joined the squad in 2020-21. The Bennici's are one of seven sets of siblings on UMBC's 2021-22 squads.
"It's been great," said Matthew of the reunion with his younger brother. "It's been really cool to see him grow up to be the person that he needs to be. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the rest of his time here."
However, for now, Matthew is focused on completing his academic work, then boarding that 13.5-hour flight to the UAE. Â Â
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