It is strange to think that the same person who once tensed up at the touch and sound of running water, finding daily showers overwhelming, now willingly lets a pool of water engulf her. If someone had told me years ago that showing up to every class since the age of three would later take me around South America to compete, I would have thanked everyone earlier in my life who pushed and encouraged me to swim from day one. What I never expected, though, was how SAAC Swimming would reshape my understanding of defeat, pressure, and strength; it propelled me far beyond what I imagined were my limits.

After joining the swim team in high school, I felt a drastic change between the switch from swimming classes to swim training. Physically, I had to adapt to the pain in my overworked muscles during the first few weeks of training and endure the excruciating pull every time my calves cramped. My coach told me early on that the only way to get stronger and feel less pain was to attend practice as often as possible. Two years later, I am glad my coach encouraged me to swim nonstop, because I no longer feel that same pain. Showing up not only strengthened my power and mobility, but also exposed me to the way water moves, which is key to finding your own rhythm and flow.

After a year of intense physical training, I still was not reaching the advancement I had envisioned. Only later did I understand that the hardest obstacle was not technique or exhaustion; it was the mindset I put myself in. Mentally, the hardest part is battling your own thoughts during a race, especially during my first experience at SAAC Swimming 2024. Over time, though, the more I stayed underwater, the more my mind opened up to accepting the water’s movements as they connected with mine. With patience and appreciation, I found the exact mindset I needed when I am under pressure or fear. It is the same mindset I carry the moment I launch myself off the diving board: finding silence, forgetting everything around me, and listening only to the rhythm chanting inside my ear.

Unlike last year’s SAAC, this mentality kept my fingers from freezing up, my body from numbing, and my heart rate from accelerating. Looking back at those races, my improvements were visible because of the lessons on perseverance I had learned before, lessons I have only continued to grow from. All impactful moments in my life have shaped the person I am today and will continue to shape who I become. When I look back at the photos of this unforgettable SAAC, I see echoes of the person I once was, carried within someone more resilient, more experienced, and more well-rounded than before, someone carved out of this lifetime moment.