Jillena Plowucha '22 Recruiting Profile

In the beginning of freshman year I had been struggling to drop time in most of my events. I realized that in order to get better I needed to work on my mindset. To help myself accomplish this I made a very difficult decision to switch teams. The main reason I made this decision was because the environment of my last team was very negative. I knew that in order for me to become more successful I needed to surround myself with committed swimmers who wanted to improve just as much as I did. Looking back, I am so glad I did what I did because in the past year and a half my times have improved tremendously. While leaving my childhood friends and teammates was very difficult, the change was definitely necessary. The difficult training I am now being exposed to on this current team has helped strengthen me physically and mentally. I continue to learn new tactics that enable me to power through these hard sets without letting doubt or any additional negative thoughts discourage me.

Last season I not only improved my mentality, but I have also started to improve in the water. I try to approach each practice with a clear mindset that allows me to focus on the minor details of the set that will later benefit me in a race. This season I have focused on pushing myself harder outside of the pool to further help myself improve. My goal this season was to get my 200 fly time down to a 2:07. However, I think the only reason I have not yet reached this goal is because I focus too much on all the things I still need to do to get better and not enough on all the things that I have already done. 

With all of the new knowledge I have gained about myself from this season and the last few season, I know that I am a very passionate swimmer with  discipline and a great deal of motivation. I apply myself in everything I do whether it be in swimming or in school. I’m nowhere near as fast as I want to be in the future, but I believe I will get there if I keep training hard and learn to trust myself. This is why I hope to find a swim program with dedicated swimmers that will help push me to reach my full potential. I also hope to form strong relationships with my teammates so I can help encourage them to be the best that they can be. 

Thank you for reading.