Personal Statement
My mother was a personal trainer, and my father played baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and dabbled in freediving. They met at a gym, dated while training for a bodybuilding competition, and my father proposed to my mother on stage in front of all the judges. It was inevitable that competitive athletics would be a big part of my life.
My love of swimming began when I was in preschool where swim lessons were part of our day. This ultimately led me to joining my current team, The EDGE, when I was eight-and-a-half years old. Every year, I look forward to the summer swim season, as I enjoy competing as a team and the camaraderie that comes from it; this is evidenced by the “dedicated cheerleader” paper plate award I was given by my swim club at the end of my first summer and the excitement from winning the League and State Championships every year. Throughout the year, I am grateful for the support and comfort of teammates, particularly during challenging times, like when I had to miss attending the state meet because I developed swimmer’s ear (that will never happen again!) or after a disappointing event, like not making my first Age Group Championship cut time by thirteen hundredths of a second.
What I love about swimming is that there is an individual component where I push myself to perform my best, and a team component where all I want is to rack up enough points to beat our opponent. The team part has influenced me the most; it has influenced the kind of teammate, friend, student, and member of my community I am. These aspects of competitive swimming are why I have wanted to swim in college ever since I learned it was a possibility.
At college, I am looking forward to challenging myself both in and out of the pool and joining a new swim family, or as we call ourselves on The EDGE, a “swamily.”