Water splashes across the natatorium, the opposing team swims in a flash with hopes to catch up, but it’s all too late. The cheers of the crowd echo across the pool as the ball flies through the air, chanting in favor of the Panthers. Score! Senior Alucio Salas lands the ball into the goal once more, the strength of his throws only an extension of the love he feels for the sport, and a never ending motivation to win.
Salas’s story with swimming and water polo started with nothing but a “beautiful mistake”, one that changed every aspect of his high school career, as well as forever shaping the person he has become.
“I didn’t actually want to do water polo or swim at first, my friends changed my schedule for sophomore year, and at first I was like ‘you know what? I’ll just change it later’ but, well, that didn’t happen” Salas said.
While it was an unexpected change to his daily routine, Salas made sure it wasn’t in vain. He made the commitment to wake up early every morning, to show up, to push himself past the stereotype of a beginner, and to work his hardest to contribute to his team and his school.
“Sometimes when I’m swimming, and I’m exhausted, I regret not dropping out of the class a lot,” Salas said, “But I keep showing up, because I love swim. I love it. It’s a love-hate relationship really.”
Despite sometimes questioning the worth of keeping up with his teammates day after day, Salas is an unshakeable force, a backbone that keeps his team together just by showing up and trying his hardest to perform as well as he can.
Aside from the physical challenge, his involvement in sports has also helped Salas grow both emotionally and socially, allowing him to connect with the members of his team on a deeper level, and form friendships so significant that he considers them to be as close as a family.
“Our team is very supportive in many ways, we’ve been together for 3, almost 4 years, everybody knows each other. We have each other’s backs.” Salas said, “Plus, whenever I joined swim, I got the motivation I needed to go out, meet people, talk to people, while also having fun doing something different, you know?”
As one of the main sources of inspiration for the younger members of the team, Salas advises them to follow his example: to continue practicing the sport until they get to the point where they want to be.
“Even if you barely know what you’re doing,” Salas said, “Don’t stop. Just keep going at it.”
While Salas doesn’t plan on pursuing swim or water polo after graduation, he deeply cherishes the memories with the team, as well as the lessons swim has taught him, and will always carry the love for the sport as a hobby. His next goal: working on achieving his dream of becoming a mechanical engineer, to make the impact he has always wanted to make on the world.
“No matter if I’m tired, or exhausted, every morning I look at myself in the mirror and think ‘Let’s do this man,’” Salas said.
