Gabriel Rzezwicki '23 Recruiting Profile

My name is Gabriel Rzezwicki and my goal is to play a major role to help make a successful collegiate team. I've been swimming for as long as I can remember and to this day I still remember my first ever Junior Olympics. As a 10-year-old, I watched in awe as the final heat was just so fast and talented. At first, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be as fast as them and win an event at Junior Olympics when I was just happy to be there. But after that, I made it my goal to be one of the fast kids and be just as good as them. Now as a 16-year-old after a COVID riddled season, I look forward to the next "normal" chapter of my swimming career that will shape who I am as an athlete for years to come. I am continuing to set new goals and rise to the challenge by working hard day in and day out to become the swimmer I want to be.

I know I am not the fastest swimmer right now so I have a lot of work to do if I want to make it in this sport. But I believe in myself and the potential I have and I am excited and motivated to prove to everyone that I have what it takes to be successful. I believe I have the characteristics of a good leader and teammate as I have been selected as a captain of the varsity team as well as the Junior Representative of my club team for Metro Swimming. During practice, I am never afraid to push the pace during a set and challenge myself as well as my teammates to rise to the challenge during a tough workout. In addition, I believe I can be an asset to my coaches and teammates outside of the pool. I frequently watch people race whether it's my teammates in the other heats or videos of pro swimmers. I always take away something from their races and give some feedback if needed. I do the same thing after one of my races as well. I always reflect upon how I did and I take away what I could do better by watching the race video or watching what other athletes do well that I could implement into my race and work on. I also use my race videos to motivate myself and to prove to myself that I can do even better the next swim.

In the future, I aspire to be a coach and apply my knowledge of swimming to fuel the next generation of swimmers. But for now, I am dialed in on finishing my club career strong and working hard to make it to the collegiate level.

And to anyone that has read this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read my statement!