Senior Genesis Rodriguez Jover was a sophomore when she first started swimming on the girls team at Warren. Now, in her final season, Jover is the captain of the team, which her teammates say she has the perfect skills for because of her positive attitude and the guidance she provides to the rest of the group.
“She’s almost like a big sister role model to the team since she's always here to give us advice on any problem or concern we have,” junior Adalae Schierberg said.
As a sophomore, Jover wanted to find discipline in her life, and swimming allowed her to do so. Swimming has been able to teach her that no matter what happens, there will always be another breath and another stroke or kick to make. During her time on the team, Jover has grown to be a strong swimmer.
“I feel like swimming really aligned my life in a way,” she said.
Jover’s motivation is to stay active and healthy. It helps her to keep going and is what keeps her at her best every day. It allows her to have a good attitude and push her teammates to keep trying their hardest.
“My favorite piece of advice that I have received is from my coach,” Jover said. “He gives me a lot of advice, and one of his mottos is to work the middle. It basically means when you’re tired, that’s when you’ve got to work the most, and that's when you’ve got to put in all the effort.”
According to her teammates, Jover has made a huge impact on her team by managing to stay positive and look on the bright side despite challenging times.
“She's a great person to be a captain, like the captain that you want on a team,” junior Galilea Diaz said.
Not only does she display leadership towards the girls team, but many of the boys team swimmers agree that she has what it takes to be the team captain.
“She gives a lot of inspirational quotes,” sophomore Oswaldo Acosta said. “She always has something to say to us that is encouraging us to come to practice and try our best.”
Jover has displayed the skills that one needs to be a leader. She shows communication, motivation, resilience and especially dedication.
“She’s always here no matter what, especially in harsh conditions,” Acosta said. “Like, last year she got stuck in the snow and still somehow managed to come to practice.” She is an amazing example of what it means to be a leader.
Jover feels like being on the swim team has been a great experience and thinks it is a great opportunity to show her teammates, who are new to swimming, how her coach wants the team to be run.
“I would love to tell people that swimming, even though it seems hard and is hard, gives you a lot of advantages in life,” said Jover. “It teaches you a lot of things about the real world that a lot of people don’t really understand.” When you do the little things in life, the big things will come, and that's what swimming taught me.