Carly Bates '24 Recruiting Profile

Hello coaches! My name is Carly Bates and currently I am a junior at Princess Anne high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I plan to continue my career in swimming during my collage years. I have been competitively swimming for about 9 years now, I started swimming with a local Recreational league and as soon as touching the pool I fell in love with the sport. I swam rec league for seven years: competing in local swim meets against other rec centers, winning awards for improving times consistently as well as placing first, second, and third. Between 1st and 8th grade I gained not only the techniques of swimming but also the value of a team. During my time in the recreational league when the off season came around I played around 4 other sports but always came back to swimming. By the end of 7th grade swimming was my main priority. Shortly after finishing my 8th grade swim season covid hit. This impacted the ability to get back in the pool during the off season and have a full 9th grade season with my high school team. Starting my 9th grade season was rough but through the month and a half we had practices I slowly learned how swimming in a more advanced level would work. Although I didn’t have the chance to go to divisional, regionals, or state, I still felt the improvement and accomplishment of swimming at a more advanced rate. During my sophomore year I picked up right where I left off in freshman year and with a full season in high school I not only improved times but learned where I fell in with events. I learned that I am more of a sprinter than I am a long course swimmer and what events I shined in. These events were the 50 free, 100 free, the 200 free relay, and occasionally the 400 free relay. I went to divisionals for all four events, regionals for my 50 free and 200 free relay, and made it to states for my 200 free relay. Not only was this such a milestone for me as a swimmer but It pushed me to do better and train more in the off season. I started waterpolo with the help of other swimmers in the spring and then worked on the beach as a lifeguard to help keep up with physical fitness. I have started water polo again before high school swimming starts to stay active in the water. Not only do I plan to do better throughout high school, but I plan to push as hard as possible throughout the rest of my swimming career in collage. But as learning additional techniques, I also hope to work with a very welcoming, supportive, and loving team.