I had been participating in club swimming since 2009, but 2012 was year I really progressed and began taking the sport seriously. I was practicing in the pool everyday from 4-5:30 and then doing dry land afterwards from 5:30-6. It was quite intense for a 12 year old, but I liked it at the time and had really good friends on my team. I competed most weekends at 5-8 hour swim meets. I would travel around Oregon and Washington and ended up going to state and regional championships. My successful year in swimming led me to join the senior level team in my club where the workouts were longer and harder and my teammates were faster. I went from being the best in my level to being the worst when I moved to the senior program. The program whooped me into great shape, but I wasn’t having fun anymore, so I quit. I had always been a busy and involved kid. When I quit swimming, I felt like I had lost a defining part of myself, but I quickly started playing volleyball afterwards and that became my new thing.
