By Becky Wentworth

“Even though swimming may be difficult in the moment, the rewarding feeling you get afterwards is always worth it”

Lena Williamson started swimming at 7 years old and hasn’t stopped since. She began with swim lessons and eventually swam all four years for her high school swim team at Bishop Feehan. Lena has spina bifida. She had neural surgery when she was just 7 weeks old and continued to undergo surgeries throughout middle school. In the process, she has a loss of function in her left leg and wears a brace.

One thing that Lena likes best about swimming is how adaptable it is. Whether you are recovering from an injury or in the best shape of your life, you can swim. Lena recently started swimming with the Bluefish Swim Club, a nationally recognized team. Her practices for Bluefish are focused on endurance and speed, whereas her practices with Adaptive Sports New England are more tailored technic work. Swimming with Bluefish is tougher than she is used to, but the club has helped improve her times. A typical swim practice for Lena varies depending on which team she is swimming for. They can last between 1.5-3 hours and sometimes consist of dry land exercises. In preparation before a meet Lena packs her bag with two towels, water, food, gets a good night sleep the night before, and eats a good breakfast in the morning. One of Lena’s most memorable swimming moments was her freshman year of high school when she had just recovered from a bout of neural surgery and was competing in her first meet back. During her last swim meet as a freshman, she was finally able to dive off of the starting block, after struggling to do so prior to freshman year, and her entire team cheered for her.

Lena’s goals for swimming include continuing to drop her times and train. Outside of swimming, Lena enjoys volunteering at Boston Children’s Hospital and helping out with their team advisor committee and new hire orientations. Anna Johannes and Mike Prout are Lena’s favorite sports heroes because they both put their time and energy into their coaching to help young swimmers fulfill their potential. In the fall, Lena will be entering her freshman year at Northeastern University and plans to major in nursing. She is looking forward to meeting new friends and becoming a part of the Northeastern community. She hopes to continue swimming throughout college and eventually wants to become a nurse practitioner. Lena’s advice to younger athletes is to “keep track of where you’re at, for example, keep a note on your phone of all your times and meets so you can look back at your performances, and be aware of your improvement.”

Thank you Lena and good luck in the fall!

Becky Wentworth is an undergraduate student at University of Massachusetts Amherst and summer intern for Adaptive Sports New England.