If you had asked me at 15 years old whether I thought I would become a Division I swimmer, I probably would have laughed. At the time, I was stuck in a plateau that seemed endless. For nearly two years, I did not improve in any of my events. While other swimmers were dropping time, qualifying for bigger meets, and getting recruited, I felt like I was standing still. Swimming had always been a huge part of my identity, but during that period it became difficult to enjoy. I questioned whether I was good enough to continue, especially as the recruiting process approached. There were days when I genuinely considered quitting. What made the situation even harder was that I felt like I was doing everything right. I was showing up to practice, working hard, and doing everything my coaches asked of me, yet the results never came. It was frustrating and discouraging. Looking back, that was the first major challenge that truly tested my resilience as an athlete. Then everything changed because of an event I never expected. For most of my swimming career, I was primarily a breaststroker and 400 IM swimmer. The 200 backstroke was not supposed to be my breakthrough race. But when I decided to branch out and try something different, I had the swim that completely changed the direction of my career. After two years of feeling stuck, I finally broke through.Three months later, I committed to Villanova University. That experience taught me one of the most important lessons of my life: setbacks are not always roadblocks. Sometimes they force you to discover opportunities you would have never found otherwise. If I had not gone through that plateau, I may never have tried the 200 backstroke. If I had never tried the 200 backstroke, I may never have ended up at my dream school. Today, I am a Division I swimmer at Villanova and a finance major in a business program that challenged and excited me from the moment I started looking at colleges. I wanted a school that would allow me to pursue excellence both in the pool and in the classroom, and Villanova has given me that opportunity. My goals are ambitious. In swimming, I want to continue improving, contribute points to our conference Big East championship team, and help Villanova remain one of the top programs in our conference. I want to push myself to see how far I can go and compete at the highest level possible. Outside of swimming, I hope to build a successful career in finance. One day, I would love to work in New York City and build a life that reflects the same independence, discipline, and ambition that swimming has taught me. The lessons I have learned through athletics especially perseverance during difficult periods will stay with me long after my final race. As much as I love swimming, I also see flaws in the current system. Swimming asks athletes to dedicate thousands of hours to perfecting their craft, but the opportunities available after college are extremely limited. Unless an athlete becomes an Olympian or one of the most recognizable names in the sport, it can be difficult to continue competing professionally while supporting yourself financially. I also believe swimming struggles because it is not accessible enough to fans. Many people simply do not know when meets are happening or how to watch them. Unlike other sports, swimming is often hidden behind difficult-to-find streams and limited coverage. As a result, incredible athletes accomplish extraordinary things without receiving the recognition they deserve. My vision for the future of swimming is a sport that is easier to watch, easier to follow, and easier for athletes to build careers within. I want swimming to reach people who have never stepped onto a pool deck. I want young swimmers to see professional athletes competing regularly and know there is a future for them beyond college. I want elite swimmers to be compensated in a way that reflects the amount of work, sacrifice, and dedication required to reach the highest levels of the sport. That is why I believe Speed League Swimming is needed right now. A professional league would give swimmers something that currently does not exist: a visible pathway between college swimming and retirement. It would provide athletes with opportunities to continue competing while helping the sport grow its audience. More visibility creates more fans, more sponsorship opportunities, and more financial support for athletes. For me personally, Speed League Swimming represents hope for a future where swimmers do not have to choose between pursuing their athletic dreams and building financial stability. It would create opportunities for athletes who may not be Olympic superstars but who still have the talent, passion, and dedication to contribute to the sport. I believe I would bring a valuable perspective to Speed League Swimming because I understand what it means to fight for opportunities. I am currently a walk-on at Villanova and the only member of my team who does not receive athletic scholarship funding. Every day, I compete alongside scholarship athletes because I believed in myself enough to take a chance on my dream. That experience has shaped me. It has taught me resilience, humility, and gratitude. It has taught me how to keep showing up when success is not guaranteed. Most importantly, it has taught me that meaningful growth often happens during the moments when quitting seems easier. Speed League Swimming is built for athletes who refuse to let setbacks define them. My journey from a swimmer who nearly walked away from the sport to a Division I athlete at her dream school is proof of that. I am proud of where I am today, but I am even more excited about where swimming can go next.

For this athlete, dominance is an understatement. Katie Ledecky is a athletic phenomenon inside the pool. As a swimmer myself, watching the Olympics is a key part of my summer entertainment every four years. In the past Olympics gold medal winners usually fade in and fade out quickly, but not Katie Ledecky. She has dominated the distance freestyle events since the age of 15 when she won her first gold medal. When Katie hits the pool deck, the entire feel of the building changes. The competition starts to sweat and the audience knows her power. She has won more Olympic medals than any other female swimmer in the entire world. She has been a force in the swimming world for over ten years. Her name will go down is history undoubtedly . She is my favorite for these reasons but not just only these reasons. Many famous athletes like football and basketball players can be flashy and extravagant with huge purchases and flamboyant outfits in order to grab more attention to themselves, but not Katie Ledecky. She does not need to do these things to prove her talent. She puts the work in inside the pool and beats her competition by many body lengths. No huge gold chains, or thousand-dollar shoes, or pink cars, or anything like that. She is simple, sophisticated, refined, and most importantly the greatest female athlete of all time. This is why Katie Ledecky is my favorite athlete on Team USA.

High school for any teenage girl is not some magical “High School Musical” experience. A rollercoaster of feelings and emotions burdening adolescent girls all while they are trying to decide their next path in life through college and beyond. Olivia Rodrigo’s song “lacy” from the ‘GUTS’ album details feelings of jealousy and resentment juxtaposed with a feeling of want and desire. Specifically a lyric that has resonated with my own expierence is this one where Olivia says, “And I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you/ Yeah, I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you.” Jealousy and envy can destroy someone’s mind and relationships with others. The constant want to have what someone else has and to want to almost become them can create a sense of adoration for that person. In my own experience and in a lot of teenage girls expierence, the desire to be more popular than you already are can lead people to lose what they truly care about whether that be relationships with others or an own personal sense of self. Popularity is a very deceiving thing. On the outside it can seem like the key to happiness. More parties, more fun, more relationships. All of these things can be very appealing on the outside but on the inside can be full of lies. I know in my own life especially as a freshman in high school coming from a small middle school I did not have many friends going in so I was obsessed with the idea that I needed to climb the social ladder all the way to the top. I believed that doing this was the answer to conquering high school and maximizing the entire high school expierence. This inevitably did not work. I was so jealous of the popular girls and I watched them with “jealous eyes” as Olivia says form far away wishing that I could've been one of them. Olivia also details the fact that she “worships” the same people she is jealous of. This was the case for me as well. I would be overly nice and try and put on a false personality and hide who I truly was in order to be a part of a group that deep down was not a group that would care about me or value me as a friend. As I have matured I have realized that popularity is the least important thing in high school, but instead its the relationships with the people who value you as a friend and who you can be yourself around. Looking back, I wish I could have told my younger self to not worry about what others thought of me and to not be jealous of what they had and instead be grateful for what I had.