Madison Littlepage '17 Recruiting Profile

I am a swimmer, a 4.0 student, a leader, an activist, a fundraiser (my mom is a cancer survivor), the costume designer for our high school plays, and a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory and Sherlock (the BBC version). People ask me why I swim, why I wake up at an ungodly hour to go to grueling swim practices six days a week. I live for the way my arms pull me across the water. The aroma of chlorine is my favorite scent. I swim because I cannot imagine my life without it.

Swimming is an important part of my life, but my life is more than swimming. I am not going to college just to get a degree, I am going to college to develop the strengths and tools that will help me make an impact on our world. I plan to study international relations and statistics, a combination that I hope will prepare me to apply my passion and competitiveness to help solve some of our biggest global problems. And I will not be waiting until graduation to become involved, so I also will continue to set aside time away from swimming and classes to become involved in the community and help give back even as I am taking in a great education.

The right college team for me will feel as much like a family as it will a team. The right college coaches will help me refine my strokes and teach me how to support my teammates; will help me strengthen my body and my character. The right college teammates will push me to swim as hard as I can during morning training, encourage me as I head off for a test mid-day, and laugh with me when we break from studying at night. The right college team for me will be a group of passionate, competitive, fun girls and boys both inside the aquatic center and out.

I am a focused, passionate swimmer and I everything about being on a swim team. Why else would I spend time pulling my body in zero gravity substance using all my muscles to pull myself forward? The sport of swimming has no equivalent and is as unique as I believe myself to be. I spent my last summer as a junior coach on my summer League team teaching kids how to swim and trying to share my passion for swimming. I hope to continue this every summer, because swimming for the Froggers, our neighborhood swim team, is how I found my love to swim. I hope that I can help others find their passion. That is why I swim, because I have a passion for it!