Player Profile: Dylan Davis By Davis Barnes Dylan Davis (12) is one of our swim team's best swimmers, but his journey to this point has taken six years of dedication, hard work, and inspiration. From admiring important role models to enduring intense physical training, a lot has contributed to where he is today. “When I first started it was rough but fun. It was just a lot of strain on the body. I mean I played pretty much every other sport and it was just 10 times harder than anything I’ve done," Davis said. Davis draws much of his motivation from his grandfather. “[The one who inspires me is] probably my grandfather. At this point in life he’s done just about anything I can imagine he’s done and he helps me with just about everything I need,” Davis said. From his time on the swim team, Davis has had lots of great memories with all his friends on the team, but one in particular stood out the most. “One year, we had this kid, and he wasn’t the best at swimming. He wanted to be on the team and he wouldn’t leave the team, but he pretty much refused to do anything else. So, me and a few other guys on the team were like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna make him join our fast lane.’ So, we were in the fast lane and everybody else was a little slower than us, so we were like, ‘We’re gonna make him join the fast lane.’ Then one day, he just stopped doing it, so we got one of our elastic straps that was to put tension on people to move them faster through the water. We clipped the waistband around one of the faster kids in our lane and we put the other waistband around him, and we pulled him through the water.” In addition to his team experiences, Davis has made impressive progress individually, competing in several events. “[My 50-free is] 27 seconds,” Davis said. “My main events that I swim would be the 100-free, 100-breast, and the 500.” Davis’s greatest challenge has been moving out, but also shares the physical challenges as well. “[The hardest part is] physical strain, I mean it’s a lot more physical than pretty much any other sport and I’ve done baseball, soccer, football and in my opinion swim is just the most physical out of the group.” Looking ahead, Davis has plans to go to the military after high school, but that doesn’t mean he plans on quitting swim. “I plan on joining a recreational team after high school. If I make it into a college team that would be nice. Preferably UT” Not only has swim improved Dylan physically, it has also taught him some valuable lessons. “[It’s important for] stability. [Swim has taught me to] stay calm, just the mindset.” As Dylan Davis continues to improve through swimming, he grows not only as an athlete but also as a person. The sport has taught him important lessons that will guide him well beyond high school, and he plans to keep building on that growth in the years to come.