When Justin Culpepper (12) first joined the swim team, he aimed to be the fastest swimmer there. But along his path to become the best, he gained more than just speed and skill: he found a team, where he made some of his closest friends.

“It brought me into a different group of people that I didn’t expect to be as friendly as they were,” he said.

His efforts paid off when he qualified to CCS through a team relay event last year.

“I was kind of overwhelmed the first time I went, but it’s nice to go there,” he said. “It’s definitely an experience. You get to watch some really fast swimmers. [Swim meets] are a lot of sitting around actually, but then there’s this short period of intense work.”

Justin spends two hours per day, six days per week practicing swimming at DeAnza College, which limits the time he has for school work after practice.

“I have to plan it out carefully at the beginning of the week,” he said. “Most of the times it’s a lot of blocking out time for stuff and using up school time as well to work on homework.”

Despite his hectic schedule, Justin values the down time in life. He makes sure to spend time each day relaxing after practice.

“[I wish people cared about] not worrying so much,” he said. “Everyone seems to worry so much, here at our school especially. I wish people would see the big picture sometimes. It seems that everyone has their track to be honest.”

In spite of the competitiveness associated with individual sports, Justin relishes the camaraderie that his team shares.

“There’s a lot of competition between other people and also against yourself, and so every event is always against yourself, trying to beat your previous time,” he said. “But also there’s something about working together as a team, even though you’re individually trying to improve yourself, you’re still working together through sets and workouts.”

In fact, his most memorable moments are spent unwinding at the pool with his friends, not competing under high-pressure situations.

“Not a long time ago, we were swimming at the club, and a bunch of my friends were joking around and we raced,” he said. “It’s just fun to race against them, and it doesn’t really matter who wins or loses.”