Sakura Hamazaki '17 Recruiting Profile

My family immigrated to the United States from Japan when I was four years old.  All my life my parents have impressed upon me the concept that in America you have the ability, with hard work, to be anything you wish to be.  I have tried various sports and swimming has become my passion.  I swim because I love to see how fast I can go and as my times decrease, my happiness increases.

I am the captain of my USA swim team, the Silver Streaks, and I take that position very seriously.  When I get to college, I will have many years of swimming left and great chances to improve.  My team does not believe in maximizing your potential while you are in High School.  They have trained me without double practices so when I get to college I will have the advantage of breaking my times drastically as a result of swimming more than I have ever swam.  While other swimmers come to College with 4-5 years of double workouts, and the injuries associated with that schedule, I will come to College with the excitement of a new, exciting change in workouts.

Most importantly, I am self-motivated in all of my work: both school and swimming. My self-motivation comes from my parents inability to help me in school work because English is not their dominate language. I adapt well to different academic and swimming environments as well. I look forward to the new challenges in academics and swimming a college/university will provide for me.