Rosie Andrews is the featured athlete of the week. This MSMS senior not only spends her time walking the halls of Hooper and catching up on homework and sleep, but she also takes her life to the water as often as she can.

Swimming ever since she was five, most of Andrews’s summers have consisted of spending time at the pool. Hanging out with friends, working as the lifeguard and helping coach summer-league swim teams are all things she does alongside her practices in the water.

Before joining the MSMS Blue Waves, Andrews swam for a few other swim teams including the Mississippi Makos, the Briarwood Dolphins and the RHS Hydratitans. Her love and dedication for swimming continued at MSMS, and her passion and hard work led to her becoming one of the captains of the MSMS Blue Waves.

“Being swim captain is awesome!” stated Andrews. Student-led practices at the beginning of the year required many personal sacrifices, but nonetheless she enjoyed watching everyone’s progress

“At the beginning of the year, I had several swimmers who came to me saying that they couldn’t swim. By the end of the season, these swimmers had attended and placed in state-wide swim meets,” stated Andrews.”

Experience in various other leadership roles also helped in Andrews’s journey through the Blue Waves. She has been cheer captain at Olde Towne Middle School, co-captain of the RHS Hydratitans and leader of the school choir’s soprano section in both middle school and sophomore year of highschool.

Along with these leadership roles, Andrews also practiced martial arts. She participated in both Ju-Jitsu and Extreme Martial Arts, but her biggest accomplishment is her black-belt in Taekwondo. Unfortunately, she had to drop martial arts to dedicate her time to swimming, but it still wouldn’t be wise to get on Andrews’s bad side.

Balancing time between school work and sports will always be a difficult thing to do at first. When swimming practice occurs at 6 a.m. before school, it has to be difficult to keep on schedule.

“During swim season, I was able to get most of my work completed. However, I had to sacrifice some of my personal and social time in order to get everything done before I had to go to bed,”  Andrews said.

Even then, Andrews struggled to get a healthy amount of sleep and some days had to rely on the other captains, Beckett Voges-Haupt and Mariana Strawn, to lead practices.

Finally, Andrews’s plans are to continue swimming in college, whether it’s through competitions or purely swimming laps. Whatever the case, she will always find time to make it to the pool.