She secured the blue Speedo goggles to her face, taking them off, feeling the suction, and pushing them back on, even tighter than before. They made the end of the pool visible. The goal she needed to reach.

As she dove in, her body relaxed. She returned to her real home: the water. The 77 degrees didn’t affect her. All she thought about was kicking. She has always told herself that she can never kick too hard.

When she reached the first wall, she tried to do a flip turn quick enough to be able to examine her competition. A few seconds in front of her and a few seconds behind her.  She was the middle girl.  She kicked even harder. She pulled her arms even faster and yet still maintained her freestyle technique. She was inching up on the girl and was being encouraged by her teammates from the sidelines of the Nicklaus Golf Club pool. Kicking, kicking, pulling, breathing, and then winning.

Freshman Emma Grojean experiences this rush every time she jumps off the block at a swim meet. Grojean swam for fun as a young girl but became more competitive when she joined Swim Academy, as an incoming sixth grader.  

“My mom encouraged me to try swimming after I quit soccer, so I joined Swim Academy.” Grojean said. “I really liked summer swim team with the practices and meets and anything seemed better than soccer practice, so I decided to give it a try.”

Her first summer swim team was through Leawood City Pool. After five years, she joined her current team, Nicklaus Golf Club. The Grojean family was looking for something all the children could participate in according to Grojean’s mother, Angela Grojean, and the Nicklaus team offered that.

“The community that has been built over the past couple seasons was the most important part for our family and for Emma. We have loved getting to know all the new faces, and she has even been able to take on some leadership roles with the younger swimmers by helping with their strokes,”  Angela said.

The Nicklaus Golf Club coach, Katie Thill, admires Grojean for her hard work and leadership on the team.

“I believe Emma has grown tremendously because she always goes above and beyond. Her work ethic and overall attitude towards swim team cannot be matched,” Thill said. “She sets goals, exceeds them, and then sets new ones.”

She plans on continuing that by swimming for the high school team this upcoming season. Her first meet is a quad meet Saturday at Lee’s Summit Aquatic Center. It has allowed her to develop a great work ethic, meet new people, and it has become something she really enjoys. Maggie Chaffee, freshman and swim manager, said that Grojean’s best stroke is breaststroke.

Soon she will sit again in those same sticky chairs that pull off skin when someone tries to stand up, and wait patiently for her next race, her favorite, breaststroke. Fifty yards in under 40 seconds. She knew she could do it if she just kicked a little harder, snapped her thighs together, and thrust herself down the pool with that strength she had worked so hard for. Waiting to fly off those blocks that feel like sandpaper on her prunie body, after that “Take your mark” and the “Beep” when her adrenaline can start rushing again.