Natalia Vélez-Serrano '21 Recruiting Profile

Growing up in Puerto Rico has made it hard for me to make myself known in the swimming world, and it’s one of the reasons why I signed up for NCSA! My parents signed me up for swimming lessons when I was 12 years old (I didn’t know how to swim up to this point), I took swimming lessons for two weeks and then the coach decided I was ready for the team. I wasn’t on the competitive team; I was in a “pre-team” that practiced five days a week for 1 hour. I was doing other sports at the time, so I took lessons whenever I felt like going. This helped grow my love for swimming because I didn’t feel any pressure to be good at swimming, my parents only wanted me to learn how to swim. I did it for fun, and that was okay, people didn’t expect me to be good at it. When summer arrived, my parents signed me up for a swim camp in Georgia. I was nervous when I heard about the field because, well first I was twelve years old. I had to stay alone for a week in a state I never been before and because in my mind I had convinced myself that everyone at that camp was so much better than I was and that I had no talent for swimming. This might sound cliche, but that camp proved that working hard does beat talent. I made so many friends, improved my technique, and I fell more in love with swimming. After that summer, my parents moved me to a swim club that was much closer to home, I went to tryouts, and I made the team! I could finally swim competitively. When I started training Monday through Saturday (sometimes even Sundays), I decided to drop the other sports I was doing because it was too time-consuming, and I wanted to focus solely on swimming.

I don’t regret my decision, and swimming opened so many opportunities from volunteering to international meets. I’ve also participated in Open Water swims and Water Polo. Sadly, my swimming career has been interrupted by forces outside of my control; living in Puerto Rico means dealing with power outages, earthquakes, and hurricanes. I have been swimming for four years, but most of this time has been interrupted by a natural phenomenon. Our long course meters (LCM) season consists of 8 meets, and our short course meters (SCM) season consists of 4 competitions, so time is essential since we don’t have many opportunities to compete. These events haven’t discouraged me. If anything, they make me work even harder. I know my times aren’t the best, but there’s always room for improvement, and my efforts and determination make up the lack of lower times. I’ve attended various swim camps over the years, all of them in different states, most of them last five days, and my improvements after those camps are unimaginable. I work hard at anything life throws at me, and I know that with the right training and coaching, I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I also know how important academics are in college; I always strive to get good grades, I study and read frequently. I know that if given the opportunity, I will put all my efforts and energy into my major and swimming.