For the past four weeks, Millsaps third-year head volleyball coach Jaime Burns and Millsaps alum Charlie Swearingen have been working effortlessly together towards a very reachable goal – competing in the 2012 London Olympics. 

Born without his lower limbs from the knee down, Swearingen had his legs amputated at nine months old and later received his first set of prosthetic legs at 12 months. A two-year athlete for head coach Jim Page on the Millsaps baseball team and formerly a student trainer, Swearingen has been around athletics for a large portion of his life and ultimately turned his attention back to his alma mater to request the help of Burns. 

A relationship that came about through an email Swearingen sent in mid-June, the two have worked together eight hours a week for the last month at Millsaps in preparations of helping Swearingen make the USA Men's Sitting Volleyball national team and earning the USA a gold medal. 

“I was asked to train with USA Volleyball and needed a local coach,” Swearingen said. “Jaime has given her time, energy and resources to help me train, pushing me to the limit. She is the epitome of dedication and compassion, and I could never thank her enough for helping me get where I am at this point.” 

Currently wrapping up a week of two-a-day practices at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla. – an official Olympic training site for volleyball, archery and all other Paralympic sports since 2005 – Swearingen is competing in a training pool in hopes of making the team. 

A native of Gulfport, Miss., who currently resides in Brandon with his wife, Ashley, Swearingen works at the University of Mississippi Medical Center as a Flight Paramedic II Base Supervisor where he's been on staff for the past four and half years. He is celebrating his 33rd birthday today. 

Burns, and the Millsaps Majors open their season on Sept. 4 in the Hangar Dome.

Click here to watch a special video by Scott LaPeer of WLBT-3 TV in Jackson