Defne Koçak '26 Recruiting Profile

I have been swimming for as long as I can remember, swimming has been my whole life and it's my key to standing out in a room full of people. I always thought that I would stop swimming at a certain point, but now that I got to high school I realize that swimming is my happy place, as much as I said I hated it, it was the place where I got away from my problems. The moment I went underwater all of my thoughts would leave my mind, it would only be me. Whenever I feel any negative emotion, the pool is the first place I go to. So, swimming is my life, it's who I am and I would do anything to succeed in it. Whenever I do something wrong it hits me so hard that I will be back in the water the next day to work harder. In my first injury, I tore my adductor. I remember crying in front of the doctor because I worked months for the summer championships and I had gotten injured two weeks before this meet. They gave me two options, either take 3 months off and let the muscle heal or take the high road and get a painful treatment and try to recover before the meet. I didn't think twice and chose the treatment, it was almost impossible to heal a torn muscle in a week and a half but I worked as hard as I could and went back into the pool the next day and only worked on pulls. By the time the meet came, I was ready to crush it and knew I was going to when I swam a 2.36.79 in a 200-meter breast broken at practice. So, I am a fighter someone who will put their best effort on the line to achieve their goals. What makes me different is that I always keep fighting, I never lose hope. Swimming is an individual sport but during high school season I learned that I had to put the teams' interests above mine and even though I am eager to win every meet I always do what's best for the team and that helped me develop as a person. So even if it's high school or college I am a person who looks out for their teammates and does whatever it takes to win and to help the team and that is what makes me different than other athletes.