VYPE: When and how did you first get into competing in your sport?
Brenda: Around 2015 my mom started taking me and my older brother to swim lessons at a YMCA during the summer. We progressed through our swim lessons so quickly that a year later we moved over to a swim club called American Energy Swim Club where we swam competitively for four years.
VYPE: What is your favorite part about being on a team?
Brenda: My favorite part about being on a high school swim team is the people. I have made some of my closest friends through this team, and there are some of the kindest people you’ll ever meet.
VYPE: What has your sport taught you that you use in your daily life?
Brenda: A strong mindset and consistency are how I function without hitting any walls.
VYPE: What has been your favorite memory of playing?
Brenda: It would be when I got yelled at on the last day of school with my friend. We walked one lap instead of running it and our dryland coach got really mad at us. At the time we were really scared, but looking back we were just being lazy and it’s just a fun memory to reminisce about.
VYPE: Who is your favorite teacher from any grade and why?
Brenda: My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Jan Gutherie, impacted my life the most. I talked to her almost all the time about my accomplishments in swim club and she was my biggest supporter at the time. She also was there for me during a big change in my life and comforted me even though I was just a nine year old girl just needing a hug.
VYPE: What is your favorite part about representing your high school as an athlete?
Brenda: Many schools expect Mustang to be a school easy to beat. Until we bust out the relays and dominate the other 6A schools. When I swim in my individual events, not many people know of me until I place higher than them which is the best feeling ever.
VYPE: You can pick any place for a summer vacation, where do you go and who do you take with you?
Brenda: A place I would go for summer vacation is any of the Caribbean Islands. They’re all very beautiful beaches and have countless cuisines to taste! If I had to choose, I would take my mom first, and then my siblings. My mother never had the opportunity to treat herself to a relaxing vacation overseas so if I were to take her I believe that she would be very happy.
VYPE: What is the best advice that anyone has given you?
Brenda: People will not forget what you accomplished, but what you did for them, for the team, and for everyone else. I would rather be humble and hardworking than cocky and fast.
VYPE: Here is your chance to give a shoutout or say thank you to anyone you wish.
Brenda: Thank you mama for consistently supporting me in my swim journey, I hope that my accomplishments now have made you proud and that all the years you took me to swim weren’t just to stay in shape. Thank you, Coach K, I wouldn’t want to have any other coach than you. You push me to my limits every day and teach me the realistic sides of swimming. Thank you, Chi Hai and Jimmy for going to the swim meets and screaming for me even though I can’t hear you, and for sitting in the moist stands for hours! And thank you, Donald. You have been my role model since the moment you started your freshman year of high school swimming. You pushed me to my limits and literally worked and coached me to my peak. You are the reason I fell in love with swimming again, thank you so much.
