Tendai Jobarteh '26 Recruiting Profile

I should be able to see the other side of the pool right? Hi, I'm Tendai Jobarteh, I'm 15, and unlike many of the recruits on this platform, I have lived my entire life in Maputo Mozambique, and although I have an American passport and an American family, Mozambique is home. Swimming has been "my sport" for as long as I can remember, as my love for it is undying. Where I train, sometimes it is hard to even see as far as 3 meters in front of me, but the terrible facilities in Mozambique never stopped me from following my passion. Up until the age of about 11, I would be driven to swim because of my love for the sport, but slowly this love turned into discipline, dedication, and drive. It's hard to commit to a sport for your love of the sport, many dive into sports for the competition. Although competition is incredibly important to me, If I didn't win, I wouldn't regret one bit of the thousands of hours I put into this sport. The early morning trainings, the late night trainings, the wins, the losses, I wouldn't regret it at all. I have set my eye on swimming, and I make sure that I am there every day at the pool, ready to give it my all, even if it's just training.

Just like anyone, I have goals for my future, and collegiate swimming is one of my biggest ones. Even from over in Mozambique, I'm always watching college swim meets and each time more excited and driven to want to be part of a college team. Teamwork is a crucial part of swimming for me, being able to be pushed and challenged by your teammates, and being surrounded by talented people is what makes this sport so amazing. There's no better place to have an amazing team with talented swimmers all around you, than a college swim team. Additionally, the fact that when being on a college team, I am still able to focus on my academics just as much as my athletics. In my eyes, swimming and school go hand in hand. Swimming has helped me so much in my academic life. The fact that can go and train every single day and put effort into every practice I have has really reflected on my school life. I take the discipline from swimming and put it into school, making sure that I give every task I have my best effort and always make time for school just like I do for swimming. Being able to focus and live in the moment has also helped me a lot. When in training, all I can do is focus on the set I am doing and nothing else, which helps with school because I can always focus on the present and not have swimming and school fight over my balance in life.

Once again, I am Tendai Jobarteh, I live in Mozambique, and although where I live is an irrelevant country in the world of swimming, I have big dreams for my future in swimming and I will keep putting in hard work to get to those dreams. I feel as though college swimming is the place for me, big teams, amazing swimmers, great academics, and of course, I can pursue my love for swimming at an incredible level of competition.