I may not be the best swimmer out there, but I am the best swimmer that I can be. I'm a great swimmer.

Many terrible memories through swimming, but there are so many great ones that make up for them all.

My goal in swimming is to be able to lift my teammates up and push them past their limits. I am more than just any hard worker who puts in more than 110% of my effort into every practice. I am more than just another swimmer whose goal was to once be an Olympic athlete. I am more than just a competitor who aspires to win every race. I am a swimmer who is not afraid to lose a race if it means that I had tried my absolute best in and out of the pool. I am a swimmer that cheers the LOUDEST for her teammates as well as other swimmers without being asked. I am a swimmer who is a TEAM player and wishes nothing more than to perform at my very best so I can inspire and push OTHERS to do even better. I am the swimmer you wish you had on your team.

I struggled through swimming quite a bit from 2014 up until mid-2017 both physically and mentally. I stopped club swimming after spring break of 2016 but rejoined after the summer season. I was not as consistent and I questioned myself to whether or not I still loved the sport because I felt burnt out. Therefore, my results plummeted, but during this summer I started going for my best times again.

I know because I took time off, many people have passed me up and their progress and results are better than mine. I did take that time to realize that science and math were NOT my strong suit in school and that I should not have piled up on so many math/science courses all at once. I found my passion within liberal arts. I may be a bit behind compared to the girls my age on my club team and it is difficult to compare my times with theirs now, but I have a lot of self-motivation and I will not back down just because they are better than me right now.

I really picked myself back up over the recent summer and I have done better than I have ever before. If I were given the opportunity to restart the summer and the past few years and either do anything I wanted to or to relive everything again, I would without a doubt choose to relive everything again. Why? Because without that experience, I would not have been able to realize what I can and cannot handle with school work (like piling up a bunch of difficult classes in two years) and realize what field I want to be a part of in the future. And swimming-wise, I would not have found as much confidence in myself. I would have been swimming without a purpose.

I realized that the little girl who loved swimming so much is still inside me, but I've become a better student and athlete today. You will be impressed by how consistently I can hold my times in practice and how well I will be able to manage my schoolwork. I will be able to amaze you day in and out not only with my performance but with my attitude as well. You will not see anyone else who has a brighter smile, with so much spirit, and so much determination all at once. Because of my setback, I am more ready than ever to shine brighter than ever.