Athena Turner '23 Recruiting Profile

My biggest pet peeve is seeing people who are talented and capable fail to apply themselves. 

I had to work hard for every ounce of success I ever got. Outside of a solid 2 months of summer league swimming, I didn't play sports as a kid, and I wasn't naturally good at anything. Growing up, I was a quitter and a crier-- everything was "too hard." Until, through a culmination of little shortcomings, I decided that enough was enough and I was going to be better. At grades, sports, everything. In the back half of eighth grade, at the end of the short course season, I joined ASC, my club swim team, and my high school swim team when I became a freshman. I did not start out very quick, and, although I made huge progress in that first summer, my swimming didn't really take off until high school season started and I was swimming twice a day,13-16 hours a week. I was determined to get competitive in the game that I was late to. Once I started that grueling schedule, I learned how to push myself, manage my time, remove distractions; all lessons that I was then able to apply to other aspects of my life, mainly academics. As a freshman, I was a straight-A student and a regional swimmer. That season I dropped time like crazy-- down five seconds in the 100 fly and 100 back (~1:10 to ~1:05), and I did it again the next season (~1:05 to ~1:00). I was on fire and in love with it all. 

But then I got injured. I took a hard fall and strained my shoulder; I couldn't lift my arm above my head and was out of the water for months. With time and physical therapy, it got better, but then I hit another bump. I had a herniated disk between L4 and L5. It came on quick and debilitated me-- I couldn't even put my socks on the pain was so bad, much less go for a dynamic swim. More physical therapy, more time, and it got better, but I was behind again. Going into my junior high school season, I'd hardly swam for months and still had pain. It was a very hard road back, but it was all worth it-- I was lead-off on my team's 200 and 400 free relays at state, and we placed 4th and 3rd. Pure euphoria is the best thing I can think of to describe what that win felt like-- I had gone from a slacker with a late start and bumps on the road to a forerunner on my team and in the state. All that hard work truly paid off-- and now I'm ready to do it all again, but better, next season.