From Pool to Classroom: Still Making Waves at 21 with McKella Leeper

#172 - Ever wonder what it's like to break a school record in your final race? Or how someone finds their calling at just 21 years old? Meet McKella Leeper, whose enthusiasm for life bubbles up like the wake behind a powerful swimmer.

McKella's journey began when her family moved closer to her father's workplace, with the promise that he would coach his daughters in swimming. This decision transformed not just her athletic path but her relationship with her father. "Swimming is the one thing that me and my dad can just go on for hours about," she shares, revealing how their coaching partnership bridged communication gaps and created a unique father-daughter bond.

Her competitive swimming career culminated in an unforgettable moment – breaking her school's 100m breaststroke record by over a second in her final high school race. After narrowly missing finals qualification and "crying in the back of the bus," McKella returned the next day with renewed determination. "I hit the wall and listened... I can hear my mom and all of the parents... I can hear my teammates behind me... and I turned around and looked at the time and saw how big of a drop it was," she recounts, her excitement still palpable years later.

Beyond the pool, McKella created an "ABC Adventure Challenge" during her boyfriend's mission, committing to weekly adventures organized alphabetically. This practice taught her a profound lesson about personal agency: "I realized how much control I had over my situation versus my situation had on me." From ice baths to mountain views with her mom, these adventures became anchors of joy and self-discovery.

Now a newlywed and recent college graduate, McKella is embarking on her career as a high school language arts teacher while continuing to coach swimming. Her approach to coaching mirrors her life philosophy – focusing on technique and fostering love for the sport rather than just results. "I coach to see everyone improve and grow," she explains, embodying the same supportive approach her father modeled.

What makes McKella's story so compelling is how she weaves together swimming, faith, teaching, and relationships into a purposeful life at such a young age. As she says, "You can learn something from anybody" – a reminder that wisdom isn't always tied to years but to openness and experience.

Join us for this refreshing conversation about passion, purpose, and navigating life's currents. Have you found your personal adventure challenge yet?

To see what McKella is up to be sure and follow her on Instagram @mck_swims.

Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake 

Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind.  Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.

Visit geneticinsights.co and use the code "DISCOVER25" to enjoy a sweet 25% off your first purchase.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
At just 21 years old, McKella Leeper is already
making waves, literally andfiguratively, From her
competitive swim days tobecoming a high school teacher
and coach.
Mckella shares her love forswimming, her creative ABC's
Adventure Challenge and whatit's like navigating newlywed
life with her husband.
It's a fun and refreshingconversation about passion,
purpose and embracing life'sjourney one stroke at a time.

(00:23):
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.

(00:43):
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination, as it is about

(01:07):
the journey.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
I'm your host, Jake Bushman, Ifyou haven't already.
Be sure to follow along onInstagram at

(01:28):
journeywithjakepodcast, forupdates behind the scenes
content and more.
You can also subscribe to theshow on your favorite podcast
platform and catch videoepisodes on YouTube.
It's a great way to watch theconversations unfold and a big
shout out to the PodMatchPodcast Network, of which
Journey with Jake is a part of.
Today's episode features theenergetic and inspiring Makela

(01:50):
Leeper.
At just 21, Makela has alreadycarved out a path as a swim
coach and brand new high schoolteacher.
We dive into her journeythrough competitive swimming,
her close bond with her familyand faith, her creative ABC's
Adventure Challenge and howshe's adjusting to life as a
newlywed.
If you enjoyed this episode, Ihighly recommend checking out
episode 115 with BriannaMedvecky, another driven and

(02:14):
passionate young woman whosestory of resilience and
adventure will inspire you justthe same.
All right, let's get to myconversation with Mikella, All
right?
Well, I'm excited today I haveMikella on the show with me
today.
Mckella, welcome to Journeywith Jake.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Thanks, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, this is fun, all right.
So I told you, you know, we'regoing to kind of go over your
swimming thing.
I mean, your Instagram does saywhat is it?
Mck underscore swims is yourInstagram handle, I believe.
So swimming, so obviously itobviously it's gotta be.
We gotta talk about swimming,and we will.
However, I kind of wanted I'mgoing to do a little monologue
here, because I kind of want tolet the audience know a little

(02:51):
bit how I find people and how II go about it sometimes, so, a
couple of ways.
I'm part of pod match network,so I people reach out to me and
want to be on the show throughthat network, which is great.
I get a lot of referrals frompeople, so that's great as well.
The other way and the way Ifound you is through social
media and through Instagram, andI came across MCK underscore

(03:13):
swims.
The way I do it, though, is Iit's usually just dead scrolling
, you know, like reels, andsomehow yours popped up, and
then what I do is I typicallyget it.
It pops up, I'm like, oh, thisperson seems interesting,
they'll be good for the show,and then I go to your profile
and I screenshot it and save it,and then I forget about it and
I go about doing whatever.
I looked at yours over a yearago.

(03:34):
That's when yours popped upyeah, it was over a year ago
because I've had so many guestsbetween now and then, whether
it's referrals or people throughthe network or whatever.
And so whenever I get a momentwhere I'm like you know what, I
want to go back to, who people Iread, you know, saved for
whatever reason, and so I'm like, let me, let me do that with
with MCK McKellum.
Mk.
I'm going to say MK.
Probably a lot here Everyoneelse calls you MK, I'll call you

(03:56):
MK.
So I was.
I was doing that and I came'tremember the real like.
I couldn't remember why Ithought I'd go.
It's gotta be about swimming.
It's gotta be because her thingsays MCK underscore swims.
That's her, that's herInstagram handle.
It's gotta be about swimming.
And then normally I'll kind ofI'll evaluate a little bit like
well, maybe not, you know, and Iwas looking at your, your posts

(04:16):
and they're not all aboutswimming there.
A lot of it's about your faithand about your husband and fits.
You know things like I'm not afit person, but you know fits,
things like that.
But I'm like I still was like Istill want to reach out to her
for whatever reason.
It came to me, like I thinkshe's still got a good story, I
don't know why.
Let's reach out.
So I did and you responded andyou asked me hey, what kind of
questions?
You asked me and I mostly saidswimming stuff, we're probably

(04:38):
going to talk.
I was like why did I?
What was it?
Could I find the real, could Irealize it again?
And I figured it out.
You did a little segment calledlike adventures ABC or ABC
adventures, ABC adventures.
And that's what must'vetriggered my algorithm, because

(04:58):
this is an adventure podcast.
That had to have been it.
So I'm going to start myquestion for you.
The first question.
This is usually how I end myshow.
I'm going to start with it foryou.
Mckella what does, what doesadventure mean to you?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
For me, adventure comes in a lot of different ways
.
Obviously like getting in thepool, getting out there, but
it's really just getting out ofthe house and doing new things.
Cause to me.
If you're doing the same hikeevery single week, that's really
not adventuring to me.
I like going out doingdifferent things, whether it's
four wheeling, hiking with myfamily or my dog or my husband,
or traveling to new places.
Just seeing as much as you cansee and doing as much as you can

(05:33):
do.
That's kind of how I defineadventure.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
I like it, and let's talk about ABC Adventures for
just a few minutes.
Again, sorry, you had no ideathis was going to happen.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Oh no, I love that.
I actually made it.
Me and my husband are doing itnow.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Okay, perfect.
So tell me what was the ideabehind it.
How did you come up with theidea that?
Hey, an alphabet, so thisstarted back in 2024.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
It was my New Year's goal.
I was like I am sick and tired.
My husband who's my now husbandhe was on a mission and I was
still talking to him, but I waslike I'm sick and tired of
waiting around.
I'm going to go on dates, but Ialso don't want to rely on
other people for dates.
But I want to get out of thehouse every single week and I
knew I wouldn't do that unless Ihad ideas.
And I had seen couples do ABCdating and I was like, well,

(06:20):
what's stopping me from doingthat?
So I was like I'm just going tostart this ABC adventures and
kind of record, because if Ihave to record it, I'm going to
have to do it anyways.
Exactly I kind of told myselfokay, this is my way of getting
out of the house, out of my dormevery single week and doing
something for me and just kindof giving back to me, because I
was in school full time, I wasdoing student teaching and all

(06:43):
that stuff and it was veryoverwhelming.
In school full time, I wasdoing student teaching and all
that stuff and it was veryoverwhelming.
So that was kind of a nicelittle check-in for me to like,
okay, take some time to goadventure and get out of the
house and do something that'spurely just for the fun of it.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
I love it.
And I looked at a few of them.
I didn't watch all of them, butI kind of I scrolled through
your, your stories of them realquickly so I kind of understood
Tell me a couple of them likeanyone in particular.
That kind of jumps out like, ohyeah, that one and what I love
too.
They weren't all just pie inthe sky, like hard to do.
There were some simple thingstoo that you can do there were
some really easy ones.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Probably one of my favorites.
It was the week of my mom'sbirthday and I was like mom, I
have to do a V-day.
Like I don't know what to do.
And she's like, well, I'vealways wanted to go up to
Sundance Resort and ride the skilift to the top and like go get
nachos.
Like can we do that for mybirthday?
I'm like yes, and I'll call itviews for V, like we'll see a
cool view.
And that one was just like afun little mommy daughter date

(07:35):
and we just like spent the wholeday together, saw gorgeous
views, like I don't knowSundance, but it is so pretty,
and like everything was so green.
We ended up like hiking downand kind of getting lost and
that was an adventure in and ofitself.
That was just a fun littlememory with me and my mom, cause
with two other sisters it'skind of hard to get alone time
with her.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Nice, okay, the for views Okay, so that was whatever
week that there was a 26 letter, so you did it.
So basically a half a year, youwere a half a year.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, so it was perfect timing.
So I started in January.
I think I started the secondweek of January because I took a
week off and then I went allthe way until the first or
second week of July and then themissionary who's now my husband
got home like two weeks later.
So it was like something toalso help me, just like keep me

(08:26):
distracted from the fact that hewas coming home and I had no
idea what was going on.
I was like we're just going togo on these adventures.
So that was fun.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Was there some things that it taught you?
There's anything, any lifelessons in any of these
adventures that you had?

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, it taught me that it's really easy to get
inside yourself, but it's alsoreally easy to get outside of
yourself, if that makes sense,cause I would find myself like
throughout the week I would justget super down on myself, like,
oh my gosh, I'm not working outenough, I'm not studying hard
enough, I'm not spending enoughtime with my friends.
Well, I'm like just tellingmyself all these things.
And then the weekend would comeand I was like, oh, I need to

(08:57):
do my ABC adventure and it wasmy choice to connect with people
or connect with myself or dosomething fun.
And I realized how much controlI had over my situation versus
my situation had on me.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
That's a great way to look at it, I think a lot of
times yeah me in particular Ikind of get inside myself, to
inside my head a little bit andyou start telling yourself these
things.
I think that kind of helpedforce you to get out of it a
little bit and reach out toothers and do things.
I think a couple of them that Iremember was there an ice bath
involved?
Was that the letter?

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I, oh my gosh yes, that was awful, but it was like
me and my cousin did that onetogether because I was like,
girl, I need an I date.
So we woke up at I think it waslike 6am.
We did an ice bath that morning.
It was so cold.
It was like a fun littlebonding moment with me and my

(09:51):
cousin because she was down inSt George with me at the time,
so that one was her idea.
She had to talk me into it butI was like, okay, I need to do
it.
I need to do something Now.
I like jump into lakes, noquestion, I mean, I did that
before anyways, but-.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
But just the idea.
I think the idea behind it.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, no ice baths.
Kudos to people that do itevery morning.
I am not one of them.
I would wake up at like four 30in the morning and hop in a
cold pool.
But sitting in a tub of ice notdoing anything is my brain
doesn't know what to do.
It's like I want to swim.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
I've never done it.
I've heard it does great thingsfor you, I've heard it's good
for your body, but I've nevertried it.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
So I mean, I felt very energized after so I guess
it worked.
But I would take swimming anhour and a half workout over a
five minute ice bath any day.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Amazing, I love it.
All right, you talk swimmingthere at the end.
Perfect, we're going to talkabout swimming before we do all
that.
And usually this is what Itypically do and I I know I kind
of went off on a little tangenthere with the whole ABCs, but I
was like that's the whole.
I think that was the wholereason I the algorithm hit.
You know.
Anyway, that's how I found outabout you over a year ago and
then we connected.
Now I want to know a little bitabout who you are, kind of just

(10:50):
some of your background, whereyou're from.
You mentioned sisters.
I think you said you havesisters.
So just kind of, yeah, a littlebit about your family and who
you are a fur family, so rightnow we have my parents.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
That's weird saying like my parents' house, but my
parents have three dogs, fourcats.
I've been house sitting withthem and I basically am their
aunt now because I hang out withthem all the time.
I'm like these fur babies aremy actual babies.
So big fur family, big furfamily.

(11:20):
But when we were younger we usedto live over 30 minutes away
from my dad's work so he wasn'taround a lot.
And then when I was going intosixth grade no, fourth grade,
yeah when I was going intofourth grade, we made the
decision to move.
So we were five minutes from mydad's work and part of that
deal was was that my dad wouldstart taking us and coaching us

(11:41):
at swim, because he grew upswimming and he swam for I think
his sister swam for BYU andthen he was actually a walk-on
at the university of Utah and hewas like an amazing swimmer.
So that was like his way oflike hey, I want time with my
daughters.
And so I had tried gymnastics,tumbling ice skating, I did a
little bit of dance and tap.

(12:02):
I had tried everything andnothing had really stuck.
I was kind of like, okay, maybeI'll stay with ice skating.
And then we moved and I was like, okay, guess I'm going to try
swim.
It was so much fun, I loved itand ended up swimming all
through high school I managedpart of our college team.
I wasn't fast enough to swim,but I just love being around the

(12:23):
sport and my dad started a teamfor our local community over
the summers and he's passed itdown to me and I've been running
it for the past three, fouryears and it's just kind of
grown and it's a huge part oflike me and my dad's bond me and
my sisters.
It's our designated like timewith dad.
So that's kind of us.
And obviously I just gotmarried a month ago so that was

(12:44):
kind of a big change.
So now we're we're still closeto family, but like 30 minutes
away.
Lots of big things this yeargraduated college and going to
be a teacher in the fall.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Wow, yeah, I've.
I've noticed that kind oflooking, looking at your
Instagram, just so many things.
I mean, obviously, gettingmarried is a huge thing, but you
also, you also graduated,you're going to be a teacher.
I mean you've, yeah, you've gotso many things going on.
It's been crazy yeah.
How do you keep your, how doyou keep your head above water?

Speaker 2 (13:11):
I'm a huge write it down person.
Like everything goes in my headand I start to overthink and I
like will notice myself gettingstressed.
So my husband's really good atlike helping me.
He was like, okay, sit down,we're going to write out what we
need to do today and then we'llget it done.
So, like throughout the week,I'll be like, okay, this week I
have these shifts, I need to dothese things for work, these
things for home, plan for thesetrips or whatever.

(13:34):
And that's one thing that Ilove about the ABC adventures is
it gives me like a designatedtime.
Like, okay, no, like everysingle week you have to do
something.
So that's every single week meand my husband have to do a date
together, like because, yes, welive together, but we wanted
that time where it's like okay,we need to plan to do something.
Planning stuff out helps keepmy brain organized and like

(13:54):
writing it down whether it's onlike a whiteboard or just in my
planner on my phone just havingit all scheduled out is a big
help.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
I love seeing this.
I love seeing someone who'syoung and married, because it
just reminds me I've beenmarried over 26 years and it's
like, yeah, you gotta you stillgotta do those things throughout
your whole marriage, you know,and sometimes I'm like, thank
you, mckella, that's a goodreminder.
I need to.
You know, I need to make sure,yeah, I need to talk to my wife,
let's schedule some things,let's do something.
So I appreciate learning thatfrom you.
That's why I like doing thispodcast.

(14:22):
I learned so many things fromit.
Doesn't matter how old, howyoung, how, whatever.
I learned something for sure.
Going back to the wholeswimming thing Sounds like
you're pretty active then.
Ice skating, gymnastics, allkinds of different things you
were doing Throughout that wholetime.
Were you always involved with?
Swim, though, no matter what,while you're still trying the
other things?

Speaker 2 (14:41):
No, so those were all when I was kindergarten through
third grade, and then we movedand it was I was doing tumbling
a little bit after we moved.
I just kept hurting myself andI didn't enjoy it as much as I
enjoyed swimming and it wasreally hard to balance two
sports.
So I decided, okay, I'll dodad's sport and stick with
swimming, and so pretty much Ithink it was like sixth grade on

(15:04):
it was just swim.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
Gotcha.
Okay, so prior to that, butobviously I was I mean, I'm
thinking with a dad who's aswimmer you've got to have.
You were probably in the waterat a young age.
We were always in the water.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, we had some or some lessons at like a
neighbor's swim, a neighbor'sbackyard pool or something like
that.
And then my grandma also hadlike one of those above ground
like backyard pool, you know,like blue ones that everybody
had.
She had one of those and so wewould go over on the weekends
and just dad would put us in thepool.
He was someone that refused toput us in like puddle jumpers.

(15:36):
He was in the water playingwith us the whole time, and now
that I like help with somelessons, I'm so grateful he did
that, cause there are some kidsthat are like petrified of the
water Cause they've never gottentheir face wet.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
So yeah, I think I was probably in that category.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
I'm like it's very coachable, but I was like I feel
so bad for these sub coachesright now, like it's just it's
hard to get over a fear of water, so I was very grateful for a
parent that would get in thewater with me and play around
with me.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
For sure and I'm guessing you must your dad must
have taught you a lot, becauseyou coach now as well.
Yeah, what kind of things didhe?
What kind of things did heinstill in you?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
So that's one thing.
That's really interesting is mydad is not a talkative person
at all.
So, like me and my mom, we havevery deep conversations.
I call her like my unpaidtherapist, but my dad his is a
lot more.
I learned from his example.
He was my swim coach from a veryyoung age and I saw the impact
that he had on these kids' livesand then all throughout high
school, seeing how he was ableto foster kind of love, it was

(16:36):
almost like they were hischildren too and like he just
loved them and cared for themand got so excited for their
successes that it kind ofimpacted me.
And he was like hey, like doyou want to come coach this team
with me?
And we both worked on that teamfor that first year in our
local community.
And then he was like well, Ican't, I don't have enough time
to manage this.
I trust you to do it.
And him showing that trust inme was a huge confidence booster

(16:59):
.
And he's always been there tobe like hey, like dad, I need
some help.
And I get a lot of parent emailsthat are like oh, you're doing
this wrong, you're doing thiswrong, you're doing this wrong.
And he's always someone I cango to and I'm like, hey dad, I
am so worried about this and hejust like lets it all roll off
his back.
So that's been a super greatexample to me is don't take the
critics too seriously and justtrust yourself and trust your

(17:19):
gut and trust that you know whatyou're doing, that leading with
love is a lot more powerfulthan leading with fear, cause I
had a lot of.
I had a swim coach thatdefinitely led with fear and it
was a very different dynamicthan my dad's team where he led
with that love.
Both of them had very fastswimmers, but the team
atmosphere of leading with lovewas something that I love to be

(17:40):
a part of and I inspire likeinspired me to kind of build a
team of love and camaraderie andsupport as I'm a swim coach.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
How do you deal with that criticism, though?
When that criticism comes, thatwould be tough, and I, you know
, I've seen it just when my kidswere in little league and stuff
you see people going up to thecoach and complaining.
I just I feel bad becausethey're especially like a little
league or something.
They're volunteering it's.
How do you deal with that?

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I cry.
Definitely it's gotten betteras, like the years have gone on
and obviously, like there'sstill things that happen that I
definitely know I need to workon, and that's what's the
hardest is.
I'm like, oh, wait, like ifthey do strike a chord, it's
like, okay, wait, I actually doneed to work on that.
But I think, also, trustingthat everybody has good intent

(18:25):
they're not yelling at youbecause they hate you, they're
yelling at you because they wantthe best for their kids and so
kind of taking everything atthat angle, has given me a lot
more empathy for them and tryingto see where they're coming
from.
Versus oh my gosh, they hate me,I am the worst person ever.
It's oh no, these people really, really care about their kids.
I am so happy that these kidshave such passionate parents.

(18:45):
How can I help them, help me,make their kids?
I am so happy that these kidshave such passionate parents.
How can I help them, help me,make their, their kids better?
And so kind of showing themthat no, we're on the same team,
we both have good intents foryour children and kind of
flipping the script instead ofthey're attacking me, it's oh,
they're trying to improve me asa coach for their kids.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Just kind of grasping what you do.
I mean it's it's incrediblebecause you're you're very young
.
I mean it's it's incrediblebecause you're you're very young
.
I mean, what are you?

Speaker 2 (19:08):
22?
, I don't know 21.
I'm almost 22.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
So okay, let's talk.
So this is a summer like asummer league type of swim group
, Kind of give me the base ofwhat this is.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
So basically it's just for the summer.
It's at the local communitypool.
We have like three differentlevels.
They only come for 40 minutesand they come for every day.
It's kind of changed throughoutthe years, but basically we
just get them for the summer.
They race against each otherthree times, so once every month
.
Our goal as a swim team is tofoster lifelong summer.
So we want to foster a love forthe sport and good technique,

(19:38):
because so many teams right noware doing what I call garbage
yardage, where they're just likeall right, go swim 3000 yards,
I'll see you at the end.
And our approach is okay.
We're going to do a lot ofdrills and a lot of foundation
building stuff, because littlekids, like, can't build muscle,
but they can build muscle memory.
So if you build good techniquenow, when they're older and can

(19:58):
actually build that muscle mass,they're going to build it with
good technique, which is fasterand healthier for them and it'll
help them be a lifelong swimmer.
And it's a kind of steppingstool up to the more competitive
like county rec teams orwhatnot.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
Gotcha.
So would you say it's youngkids then, or what's kind of the
age range?

Speaker 2 (20:16):
I have a six year old right now and my oldest is 14.
So it's a.
It's kind of a big range and Ilast year, I think no, he was 14
too.
So, yeah, 14 is kind of the max.
I think he might've been 15,but yeah, so at six, I think the
youngest I had once was five,but they were struggling to keep
up.
Six-year-olds is kind of thesweet spot, and then up to 14,

(20:39):
but there's those threedifferent levels so they're kind
of mixed in.
But it's definitely more oflike an introductory swim team,
getting people excited, workingon their technique.
I of like an introductory swimteam getting people excited,
working on their technique.
I do have a couple swimmersevery summer that I find out are
in ninth grade and they're likeI'm going to try out for my
high school team and they makeit.
So that's kind of exciting.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
I wondered about that .
I mean, is I guess, is there?
Yeah, is there some of them?
Have you had some that havegone on to high school teams and
things like that?

Speaker 2 (21:05):
So you said yes, what's that like knowing that
you know, hey, you're a part of,maybe kind of helping.
It's so fun, and especially nowthat I'm like going, cause I
with a teaching job I got I'mteaching at the high school that
all of these kids that I'vecoached for years are going up
to and it's so exciting and sofun.
I know there's at least twothat I've coached from this
summer swim team that are on thehigh school team where I'm
going to be coaching.

(21:25):
It's so fun to like see theirgrowth, because I got them when
they were like we little babiesthey didn't even know
breaststroke and butterfly andhere they are competing at high
school.
Some of them, I'm hoping, bytheir senior year will make it
to state.
But just seeing their growth isso inspiring and it just I
don't know, and that's why Icoach is I coach to see their
journey.

(21:45):
I don't coach to coachOlympians, I coach to see
everyone improve and to grow.
And that's my favorite part isnow seeing them go from like
little summer swimmers to bighigh school kids.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Tell me a little bit about your high school career,
cause you said you weren't fastenough to make it at the college
level.
And these swimmers are fastthese days, but these swimmers
are so fast I don't know howthey do it.
What was it like for you inhigh school?
What was the best part?
What was the worst part?

Speaker 2 (22:12):
So the worst part was definitely COVID.
I was actually.
I went on the news for itbecause our pool kicked the high
schoolers out but as, like acounty patron, I could pay to go
use the lanes at the same timethe high schooler was supposed
to have it.
It was a weird situation.
So we were like hey County, ifrandom patrons can come use it,

(22:32):
why can't high schoolers thatare like rented your lanes for
the day camp?
Their excuse was oh, there'stoo many of you, You're going to
spread COVID.
Blah, blah, blah.
We ended up getting our pooltime back so they were in the
wrong.
But that was definitely theworst and like figuring out that
self-motivation and getting tothe pool and knowing that, like
you might not have an entireteam or you might not have

(22:53):
another meet for the rest of theseason, we had no idea what was
going on.
So working through COVIDdefinitely set me back and was
like a tough mental and physicalbattle, because getting in the
pool by yourself and then alsonot having your teammates to
cheer you on and support you andlike for a couple of weeks was
really tough.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Sophomore or junior when that happened.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Sophomore, so my first little bit of sophomore
year was normal and then as wegot on it was kind of a little
wonky.
And then my junior year waswhen it was like all of the we
were back, but it was very, very, very restricted.
Like every other week we had togo get COVID tests.
Our coaches were outside thepool doors taking our
temperature and like if someonethat you were in your lane with

(23:38):
got COVID, the whole lane had togo home and quarantine for
what's it?
Two weeks.
It was rough.
It felt like the Hunger Games.
People were just leaving schoolleft and right.
So that was really hard to dealwith.
Because I was a captain myjunior year and so that's when
all of us captains went to theschool board and the news and
were like, hey, this ishappening.
If patrons can have the pool,we as a team need our pool time

(24:01):
back.
That was definitely the hardest.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Good for you.
Wow, that took some courage,right.
I mean, that's gotta be alittle scary.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
It was really scary.
Like I even sent an email tothe mayor and that was probably
the scariest part was like oh mygosh, like what's she going to
say?
I don't think she ever saw it,I think it was like her
assistant by getting that emailback and they were just like
it's been resolved.
I'm like, well, yeah, tricky.
Probably my favorite part wasmy senior year, because that was

(24:30):
the first year where it waslike zero restrictions,
everyone's back.
I felt like kind of the mom ofthe team because I had been
there for a couple of years andI, since I was the coach's
daughter, I in my head was likeoh my gosh, I have to do
everything to prove that I amhere because I am fast and I am
good, not just because my dad'sthe coach.
Senior year, everyone knew likeoh no, she's actually fast.

(24:51):
Like I was on the a relays Iwas 0.03 seconds from breaking
the school record.
I had been like that for like awhole year.
Thank you, covid, I blame it onthat.
But also it was like a weirdmental block.
So everyone was like okay,she's fast, she knows what she's
doing, and like they had thatrespect for me and it was a
really fun relationship to kindof build that team spirit, and I

(25:12):
had really great co-captainstoo that helped with that.
That was the year where Ifinally broke the school record
and it was at my very last raceever.
So the way swimming works inhigh school Utah is you have
prelims and then finals.
So prelims day is when youqualify for finals and you want

(25:33):
to go fastest in prelims,because if you score the top
eight in prelims you'reautomatically guaranteed top
eight at finals.
It doesn't matter if someonethat scored ninth in prelims
breaks the state record becausethey're in that secondary heat.
They will not get first it's.
It's so weird.
It bugged me every single yearbecause I always I'm trying to

(25:55):
wrap my head around that no, Iwas always ninth place coming in
from prelims, so I got theninth fastest time the day
before and then on finals day Ialways would have been like
fourth or fifth, if you had likedone it.
It didn't matter, because itdidn't matter because I was in
the consolation final, so mytime didn't wasn't a medal race
it was just a timed race, sovery annoying.

(26:17):
But I had senior year.
I was like, okay, this is theyear I'm going to make it to
final finals, I'm going to get amedal.
I did not.
I went home and cried afterprelims.
It was the worst day of my life.
I had to ride home on the buswith our rival team, with a girl
who had just broken her schoolrecord.
In my event.

(26:37):
I was like this is awful.
I was just bawling my eyes out,crying in the back of the bus.
My mom's texting me.
She's like are you okay?
I'm like, just leave me alone.
I want to cry, cry.
And then I don't know what flipswitch I flipped in my brain.
But I came back the next dayready to race.
I was just like, okay, this isit.
After this, I am not swimminganywhere.
Like I don't know what's gonnahappen.

(26:58):
And it was just something oflike this is my last time to
break that record.
Be with my team, be with my dadas my coach.
The weirdest feeling like comingbehind the blocks when they
were like calling the race,cause they say all your names
before and I was the last namethey had said because I was the
fastest swimmer in that heat andthey always say the fastest
swimmers named last.

(27:19):
They said my name and thisfeeling of just like you know
when people say you get in.
I was in the zone, I don't knowwhat it was, but it was just
like I've got this race.
It's so good.
My mom was up in the standsfilming and we, I like, could
watch that video on repeat.
But I just dive in and you cansee from the moment I hit that
water I'm like still in the zoneand I stayed in it for a whole

(27:41):
hundred yards and I ended upbreaking the record by over a
second, which in swimming isinsane.
So something just with the teamcheering.
And I had had a coach tell me ata state meet, like two years
back, when you hit the walldon't look at your time, listen
to the crowd.
And that me I knew like I hitthe wall and I knew I knew I had
the record.
I was like, okay, I probablygot, like I beat the record by

(28:04):
0.2, but I know I have it.
Like I know I went fast.
So I hit the wall and Ilistened.
I can hear my mom and all ofthe parents, cause they've seen
me for the last three yearsswimming, working my butt off at
this race.
I can hear them up in thestands and I can hear my
teammates behind me, cause theywere kind of on the other end of
the pool yelling, and I'm justlike listening, soaking it all

(28:24):
in.
And I turned around and lookedat the time and saw how big of a
drop it was and my dad got thecoolest picture of me, just like
jaw dropped in the water, likeI was flabbergasted.
I had like it was just oh, Icould relive that moment for the
rest of my life.
And it was so cool Cause my dadwas on the side like taking
pictures, cheering all thecoaches, and it was just like

(28:46):
feeling that support thateveryone had had for me for the
past three years of my highschool swimming career.
All like come to that peak wasso cool.
And it helped that one of mycompetitors we had swam together
on like a USA team during thesummer so and she knew what my
goal was and so she leaned over.
She's like you finally did itand like we hugged over the lane
line.
So that was definitely the bestmoment.

(29:07):
It was kind of the ending likepunch, but that was probably my
favorite moment from high schoolswimming.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Well, and I think it's even more than just the
three years of high school.
I think it's all that timeSixth grade with your dad and
just yeah, you hit that.
That's amazing, that's anawesome story.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
Wow, that was my favorite, and now I'm coach.
I'm hoping I can coach the girlon the team now to break my
record, cause that would be afun full circle.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
That would be awesome .
I love it All right, I got toask about teaching.
You're going to be a teacher.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
And so I want to know okay, it's in the swimming
career was was awesome, but youwent to.
So you went to Utah tech, StGeorge, Utah, Yep, and I think
you graduated like in threeyears or something.
Did I see that right?

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Okay, I did it fast.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
You did it fast.
Here's what's cool.
You're so.
You've only been out of highschool just a few years and
you're going to teach highschool.
Tell me about that experience.
What got you into education?
Why did you want to pursueeducation?

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Swim coaching.
It was literally coaching swim.
So I had always hatedbabysitting, hated working with
kids, like I didn't mind themfor a little bit, being with a
kid for more than like threehours.
I start freaking out.
I'm like where are your parents?
What do I do?
I don't know what I'm doing,but something about like
coaching kids and swim, becauseI had always loved swim and
sharing that with them.

(30:29):
I was like, oh wait, like I'mwith them for an hour at most,
maybe hour and a half orwhatever, and they have fun, I
get to give them a good workout,and like we're both sharing
things that we love.
Cause I started coaching inhigh school and I was coaching
like these middle school, somemiddle schoolers, so I've always
been used to like having aclose age gap, which is kind of
fun because then you can jokeabout similar things.

(30:49):
That was what I was like.
Okay, well, maybe since I loveswim coaching, the only really
full-time job you can get as aswim coach is if you're teaching
and coaching at a high school,and so that was kind of what
kickstarted my interest in that.
So I originally went to schooljust for English and then I took
one education class just tokind of test it out and see if I
liked it.
Absolutely hated the elementaryday that they made us go do.

(31:13):
That was awful being with thesame kids for eight hours and
they were clinging to my legs.
I was like like give me myspace.
But then we went to a highschool and it was so fun.
I half the time they thought Iwas a high schooler, but it was
really fun to like be able toactually have a deep
conversation with them and seetheir insights and like.
I'm a language arts teacher soit's really more flexible than

(31:37):
like math or science.
Don't get me wrong Math andscience are important, but
language arts has a lot offlexibility to talk about
people's like beliefs andperspectives, which I think is
so fascinating, and just seeingwhere different people come from
and how we can all worktogether and kind of not
necessarily have the sameopinions but respect each other
and build to work, work to buildsomething together, if that

(32:01):
makes sense.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Yeah, no, for sure.
And so okay, you just graduated, You've got the job then.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
So it's.
Is it in your you keep?
You mentioned your community inUtah.
St George is where yougraduated, but is it somewhere
else?
I mean, where's the school?

Speaker 2 (32:17):
No, it's up in Northern Utah.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Northern Utah.
Okay, yeah, what's the name ofthe town, if you don't mind.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
if I'm allowed to, ask Well, Harriman Daybreak area
.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Okay, yeah, perfect, okay, very good.
I know that area very well.
Excellent, okay, good.
So you're going to be thereteaching language arts.
You said so, english languagearts.
That's going to be all grades.
Like what?
Seniors?

Speaker 2 (32:37):
So I have three periods of 10th grade and three
periods of 11th grade.
It's just like regular nohonors, sophomores and juniors.
Yeah, regular no honors,sophomores and juniors.
Yeah, I don't get the honorskids.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
As a first year teacher, unfortunately, I would
love them but that people kindof fight over them and it's not
going to the first year and thenyou're also going to be
coaching swim.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, so I actually it's really cool, they so
typically, as a teacher, youonly take teach six classes.
So I would have had the three10th and three 11th.
But I worked out with theschool and the rec center and I
am actually able to teach aseventh period for one semester,
which is a swim class.
So I get to teach all of myswimmers and we just go to the

(33:18):
pool and do a workout for thehour and a half.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
How'd you work that out?

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Well, the other schools in the district all have
it, we're the only one thatdoesn't.
So I was like, hey look, yougot a teacher, now you have to
have it.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, hey, good for you, so fantastic.
Any thought to how you're goingto balance both roles, cause
you still haven't officiallydone the teaching?
I know you did some studentteaching.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Did you?

Speaker 1 (33:37):
learn a lot from that .
Like, how do you think you'regoing to manage both?

Speaker 2 (33:39):
So I student.
While I was student teaching, Ialso was volunteering as a swim
coach with the swim team, justkind of to feel it out.
The sleep schedule isdefinitely going to be rough
because it's at 5 am so I haveto leave my house at 4.30, 4.40.
I don't know, We'll see howtraffic is Literally not.
I have to leave my house before5 am so I'm like I have to wake

(34:03):
up at like 4 am to get readyand kind of look presentable,
because I don't want to looklike a high schooler while I'm
teaching high schoolers.
I'm going to have to go to bedat like eight, nine.
I'm going to be such a grandma.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Hey, there's nothing wrong with going to bed that
early.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, so I could balance it decently well.
And this first year I'm just anassistant coach and it helps
that my dad's still the headcoach there, cause my sister
still goes to high school there.
I get to work with my dad for ayear, which is super exciting
and he is definitely going tohelp balance a lot of it and,
like the family, can still helpwith the swim stuff.
It's going to be a lot and I'mdefinitely going to have to rely

(34:39):
on my teaching team.
I student taught with them, soI have a lot of materials from
them already Very good, and theyall are super nice.
I was like, hey, like I don'tknow what books you're teaching,
all this stuff and they likesent me their entire year long
plan and some PowerPoints andstuff.
They're like feel free to usewhatever and change it.
So I will definitely beborrowing and adjusting things
instead of creating from scratchthis first year.

(35:01):
Maybe, as I get a little morecomfortable and down the road,
I'll start creating from scratch.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
I love it Is your sister on the team.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
The swim team.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, she is.
She's going to be a senior.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Wow, okay, very good.
So that's good.
And she's the baby right.
That's the youngest one.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
My parents are going to have three high school
graduates after this year.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
That'll be fun too.
Then You'll have your sisterthere, your dad there, and I
want to ask about that.
You know you mentioned, youtalked about your dad earlier
and just how he leads with love,and you know the great example
for you personally, what's itdone for your relationship with
your dad?

Speaker 2 (35:41):
It helped it so much because before, like, I'm still
totally a mama's girl butswimming is the one thing that
like me and my dad can just goon for hours about and like we
can talk about that.
That's when we get to connect,is when we're working on swim
stuff together.
It sounds like kind of badbecause it sounds like work, but
for us that's like our play,because we both love swim, we

(36:01):
both love the sport and we bothlove sharing it.
He's definitely more gentlehanded than me.
I'm kind of more bad cop.
Sometimes I can be mean.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Okay, you got that relationship going All right.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
But I mean he needs some bad cops.
So I'm happy to be that for himif he wants to be the good,
happy, nice cop.
It's helped us so much becausewe just Before we didn't really
talk.
I would just go talk to my momabout problems I still do but
being able to go to him and belike hey, dad, I have this
problem with swim, what's yoursuggestions?
And being able to have thatkind of mentor relationship, at

(36:36):
least with swim, has been superhelpful.
And I've noticed that as I'veswam more and spend more time
with him, he is able to open upabout other things.
Like we'll just be on the driveon the way to swim one morning
and he'll just bring up randomgospel stuff or random whatever.
And so those random drives toswim at like 5 am or whatever,

(36:58):
he definitely opens up a lotmore and it gives us more
one-on-one time, because wedon't get that very often andi
know as a father myself, I'msure he loves that and
appreciates that, so I thinkthat's awesome huge with us
moving out.
It definitely like I don't knowwhere our family would be if we
hadn't made that move love it.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
That's fantastic.
The other thing I want to touchon in the swimming thing was
great.
I mean, I love the adventure ofit.
I mean this is adventurepodcast, but it's ABC adventure
swimming.
You got all kinds of things.
You are married now.
You've been married a month.
If you go to your Instagrampage, I think your profile
picture is you in this beautifulwedding gown, I believe.

(37:38):
So you're a beautiful bride, bythe way.
So congrats on that High schoolsweetheart.
Right, tell me about thisrelationship.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
That's an adventure in and of itself.
So we were in the same friendgroup from our sophomore year.
He was the football boy, I wasthe swimmer of the group.
We had the most random friendgroup.
We had a band, kid, theater,kid, cross country, kid, like it
was the most random hodgepodgeof kids and I love them all.
And my mom actually is the onewho got me into that friend

(38:01):
group.
Funnily enough she was at atrack meet for my sister and she
saw a high schooler there andhis mom and she was talking with
his mom and they were talkingabout how much he loves high
school and my mom was like mydaughter has no friends,
airdropped my contact to thisrandom dude and next thing I
know I'm going to a hauntedhouse with them and they were my
best friends all throughouthigh school.

(38:22):
So that's kind of background ofthe friend group.
We were all super random, hungout all the time together, and
then I kind of was not going outon dates with guys because I
had had my first kiss and it wasnot a good experience.
The guy ghosted me like a weeklater and I was like men, suck,
I'm done for the rest of highschool, like no, and my friends

(38:47):
being them.
We were at a hangout and me andthis, my now husband, we're
sitting on opposite ends of thecouch so they, like friends too,
decide to like shift in andlike scooch it, so that Gage is
sitting next to me and they'reall texting, both of us like put
your arm around her, lean yourhead on him, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah.
I got up and left.
I was like, okay, I'll see youguys tomorrow.

(39:07):
I was like I'm done Cause.
I was just like I'm not gettingin a relationship, like I'm
just going to get out of here.
Well, turns out my friends wereright, I was a really good fit
with him, and so I ended upasking him.
We went to a dance before that,and so then I ended up like
asking him to hang out allthroughout the summer, and it
was just big group hangouts, andI still, at that point, didn't

(39:28):
admit that I liked him.
I was just like, oh no, likehe's just fun to hang out with.
My mom realized I liked him wayin advance because he was
making fun of me for something,and I just started bawling and
she's like why are you cryingover a guy?
You must like him.
Like no, I don't like, it'sfine, I sound like such a cry
baby.
I just, I don't know.
I guess I'm an emotional person, but we hung out over the
summer we actually just talkingabout this yesterday there was a

(39:50):
day where it was me, two girlsand then him and two other guys,
so it was three and three.
So unintentional group day,that's how it usually ended up
going.
We went thrifting super fun,took the most random pictures up
Butterfield Canyon that waslike our hangout spot and then
he had to go to work and so wewere all hanging out and at the

(40:10):
park across the street from hiswork until he got off and it
starts downpouring right when hegets off work and everyone's
like let's leave, let's leave.
And I'm like, no, like let'splay around in the rain.
And Gage at the time was lesslike yeah, let's totally do it,
like let's lay in the street andlike play in the rain.
And I was like, wait, what?
I don't know what it was abouthim just being willing to stay

(40:31):
and like have an adventure andplay in the rain.
That I was like, oh, he's kindof cute, I think I like him.
But that was what flipped itand I was like, oh wait, I kind
of like him.
So then, lots of drama.
Later he ends up asking me tohomecoming after I told him I
liked him, cause, like I senthim a nice, like a long text one
night and was like, hey, like I, like you, ignored me for six

(40:51):
hours, like over six hours, likewe slept, I went to swim, I
went to school and saw him atschool Nothing Didn't text me,
didn't say anything, and I wasfreaking out.
I was like this guy doesn'tlike me, like I'm so stupid, why
did I text him that?
And like total meltdown, sweetmom brought me and my friends
lunch and we like ate outside.
And that's when he knew like,oh crap, I messed up.

(41:12):
So that ended up working out.
We went on our first date just acute little movie, and after
homecoming we ended up beingboyfriend and girlfriend for all
of senior year I think that was10 months and then he left on
an LDS mission in Washington fortwo years and I had told him
when he left.
I'm like, hey, only thing I'mpromising you is one date.
I was kind of a brat.

(41:33):
I was like you're just gettingone guaranteed date when you get
back and you have to plan it,and while you're gone, I don't
want you to expect me to notdate anybody.
I want to have my ownadventures and do my own thing,
and I did at least the last sixmonths of this mission.
First 18, though, I wasdefinitely like-.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
Staying strong.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Oh yeah, no, it was voicemail, was everybody he
could call for a little bit ofhis mission.
So we were FaceTime, like itwas.
We were basically dating.
And then I don't know whathappened last six months.
I was like, all right, I need aday, go crazy.
I had like three or four datesa week, at least.
For the last it was crazy, Idon't know what happened.
And then he came back on the24th of July actually.
So I went to a barbecue withhis family.
I didn't go to the.
Yeah, about a year ago actually,I know he came home basic

(42:20):
missionary I guess, came home,got married.
We didn't count that as ourdate.
But he took me to ice cream ina park to kind of talk.
A week later and that was ourfirst date we kind of talked and
I was like, hey, what are youthinking Like?
Week later and that was ourfirst date, we kind of talked
and I was like, hey, what areyou thinking Like if we get back
together?
Like it's, because we'replanning on getting married,

(42:41):
like I'm not going to just dateyou for fun, I'm going down to
St George, you're at BYU, likeI'm not doing long distance for
nothing.
And he was like okay.
Well, I kind of think I want todate at BYU and just see what
it's like, cause I'm his firstkiss, first girlfriend, first
everything.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Gotcha yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
So sweet, I love him.
But I was like, okay, well,just so you know, if you're
going to go to BYU and date, I'mnot waiting around, I will go
to Utah Tech and I will date.
I'm sorry, I'm not waiting forthat Just because I'm not
someone that believes in soulmates.
I'm someone that believes like,okay, love is something like
two people really care for eachother.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
We're going to keep.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Yeah, we work at it and we choose it.
It's not just like, oh, we'remeant to be together, it has to
be this, and if you pick thewrong person, you're never gonna
find anyone again.
And so I was like, okay, well,if you are gonna go out and date
, I am also gonna go on date.
And that got his brain going.
He was like, oh wait, Iactually don't want you to date
other people.
Like, let's do this.
And so from kind of that on, wewere together and my mom has

(43:35):
this list of marriage questionsthat we went through, and he
helped me move into my dorm inUtah Tech and we were going
through all of them while wewere packing and stuff.
So that's long story short ofthat.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Wow, amazing.
And Gage is his name.
Yeah, is he still going to BYU?
Is he done with BYU, kind ofwhere's he?
What's his status?
He?
Is he still going to BYU?
Is he done with BYU, kind ofwhere's he?
What's his status?

Speaker 2 (43:56):
He's got three more years at BYU.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
What's he studying?

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Statistics.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
Ooh okay, all right, I know, we got the teacher, we
got the statistician going.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
I know I'm like I can do the books and the reading.
You do the numbers and stuffplease, and thank you.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
How do you think you know your marriage has
influenced your journey, youknow, as a swimmer, as a coach,
as a teacher.
Has there been any relationshipthere?
What's it done for you?

Speaker 2 (44:22):
That's been something that's super interesting.
So because we're high schoolsweethearts, we were both kind
of each other's biggestcheerleaders.
I would go to all of hisfootball and rugby games and he
would come to a lot of swimmeets.
And swim meets are long we'retalking over two hours, you know
.
I feel like rugby games andstuff like they're entertaining
the whole time.
I'm not swimming the whole twohours, I just swim for like
maybe five minutes of it.

(44:44):
So him sitting there for twohours and just like seeing him
up in the stands and he wouldlike have his phone out Cause he
knew I liked watching my racesback and he'd write down all my
splits and like love looking atthe numbers for me and he's like
, well, if you just drop thismany seconds on this 25, then
you'll break the school recordand like the stat guy the stat
guy totally, and so himsupporting me in that way and me

(45:04):
being loud and obnoxious likepainting his number on my cheeks
, was kind of our way ofcheering each other on and that
was kind of a fun dating phasefor us.
And now obviously he is comingto swim meets and he helps me
pass out all of the swim teamshirts and he's like okay, let
me learn how to be a timer,learn how to work the computer
system.
And he's always super, superwilling to kind of help out and

(45:25):
serve me in that way, which Ilove, because sometimes, like
around the house, there's thingsthat he just doesn't know how
to do yet or he just can't do itLike I want it done a specific
way, and I'm like no, no, no,like just don't touch it and so
swim stuff.
He's really good at picking itup because it is a lot of
computers and stats and hisstrengths, and so seeing him
serve me in that way has beensuper, super cool.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
I love it.
Yeah, especially us guys.
We struggle a little bit,sometimes we have to learn some
things.
So be patient with him, he'llget there.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
I'm working on it.
Hey, I got him to make the bedevery morning, so that's a win.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Positive.
Oh yeah, I love it.
The other thing I wanted totouch on when I look at your
Instagram account, I see a lotof importance of your faith and
the importance of God in yourlife.
Talk a little bit about thatand how that's all kind of what
it means to you in your life.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
So God has always been my rock and I struggled a
lot when I was younger becauseI've grown up religious and like
kind of relied on my parents'testimony.
And that was really hard for mehearing all these people talk
about like yeah, I wasn't amember and then I came back and
I was like where, where's my?
Like I lost my faith and then Icame back.

(46:36):
So like I thought I needed tolike fall away to come back.
But I went to EFY one year andthey're like no, like just pray
and ask if God loves you, likethat's totally fine, like it's
okay not to know everything.
You can just have faith andstuff.

Speaker 1 (46:49):
And like EFY, efy is especially for youth.
It's a youth program for thechurch, yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
So now it's kind of more FSY is what they call it,
but when?

Speaker 1 (46:56):
I went, it was EFY.
Yeah, gotcha Okay.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
So they told us and it was the Sunday day and so it
was a very spiritual day it'slike kind of the pinnacle moment
where it's like, all right,this is testimony day.
Like let's go, like here's allthis Jesus stuff.
That's the day where it's likeyou wear your Sunday best and

(47:19):
like a bunch of testimonies, youhave your testimony meeting,
and they were like okay, we'rejust going to give you like 10,
15 minutes, go off on your own,write in your journal, pray.
And I was like, okay, I'm goingto pray and be like okay, god,
do you love me?
And I did, and I got zeroanswer, nothing.
And I was like, am I doing itwrong?
Like what's happening?
So I was like I'm just going topray again.
And I did, and I was like superdistracted, like I was like I

(47:40):
was.
You know the like half openprayer that you do when you're
like trying to watch peoplearound you to make sure you're
not getting judged.
I was doing that totally, sonot in the moment.
And then finally, I was like,okay, I'm going to do this one
more time and I'm going to meanit.
And so I literally likepictured the savior standing in
front of me.
I closed my eyes and said aprayer and just like pictured
myself talking to him.
And immediately when I openedmy eyes, this like ray of

(48:01):
sunshine and I love sun, so thesun just like hit me in the face
and like biggest feeling ofpeace and like warmth came over
and I was like, oh wait, like Iam loved all the time.
This is cool.
So that's kind of been my likefoundation for that.
And just whenever I'm goingthrough something, whether it's
with swimming or with my familyor with marriage, knowing that I
have a heavenly father and asavior who loves me is always

(48:24):
going to be my rock, and that issomething that I didn't realize
was hugely important until Irealized how many.
When people don't have it, wheredoes that inner confidence come
from?
Because my inner confidencecomes from knowing that I am a
daughter of God, because Godloves me.
I'm here for a reason and he'snot going to let me go straight.
He's going to help me grow fromwhatever experience I have, and

(48:45):
so his love for me is kind ofthat foundation.
Obviously, I have other stuffand scriptures and service and
all that stuff, but the Savior'slove is that kind of
cornerstone for me and that'salways been what I turn back to
when I'm having a faith crisisor when I'm having troubles, and
even with sports or jobs orliterally anything, I can just

(49:07):
be like, okay, the Lord loves me, I'm going to trust in him and
trust that he wants what's bestfor me.
Because he loves me and becauseI am his child.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
I love that.
I love the fact that you go tothe fact that you're a daughter
of God.
You're so many things You're ateacher, you're a daughter to
your parents, a sister to yoursisters, you're a swimmer,
you're a coach, but you're adaughter of God and I love how
that's super important to you,that that's like an important
part of who you are.
I think that's amazing.
Love that.

(49:34):
So thank you.
Thank you for sharing that, ofcourse, a lot of times on this
podcast people I mean, I don'thave a lot who do share that so
I like the fact that.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
I know I'm kind of nervous with like teaching if I
can still post stuff like thaton my page because I haven't.
I'm like I don't know what I'mallowed to post and what I can't
post anymore.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
I haven't even thought of that, cause, yeah, I
mean I enjoy the page cause itis a lot of fun.
In fact, before I got just afew other little questions, one
thing I don't think I even askedyou and maybe you said it, and
I apologize if you didn't jumpback to swimming real quick what
is your event?
What's your best event?

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Oh, I am a hundred breaststroker, so I would do the
hundred breaststroke, hundredbreaststroke.
Okay, yeah, okay, sobreaststroke was my event, and
so I.
My name is still on our schoolrecord board for the hundred
breaststroke and it is like myone crowning achievement but
you're hoping you could coachsomeone maybe I want her to
break it so bad.
She is so close and it's I'vebeen kind of coaching her.

(50:33):
I just hope she breaks it thisyear when I'm like fully a coach
, because then it's like, oh, Ihelped you break it, like I
broke it, and then I hopesomeone else break it.
It's kind of like it's a littleselfish for me, but I'm also
like it's fun.
Like records are meant to bebroken, but it's fun when you
can have a part in helpingpeople break it and that's great
.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
I think it's.
It's fun that you said thatwhat the event is, because, yeah
, I was.
You know, after talking for awhile, I'm like wait a minute,
it's a freestyle sorry, that'smy bad for no, I didn't even.
I didn't even think about iteither.
I'm like, okay, that very goodbreaststroke, that's awesome.
All right, if people want tofollow along with your journey,
where can?
I think I've already said it,but yeah, where can people
follow along?

Speaker 2 (51:07):
yeah, at mc swims, so at mck underscore swims.
The tag name is mk, so okay,I'm on tiktok instagram all
right, it's pretty much it.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
You say mick swims.
I've been saying mck yourname's.
Yeah, michaela, so that makessense.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Okay, yeah, swims no, I actually started that page
originally to get recruited bycolleges for swimming oh, okay,
that was okay.
That's why the whole swims isthere yeah, and I just haven't
changed it because I'm still aswim coach and it's still part
of my, it makes sense who youare but yeah, it was originally
started to get recruited bycolleges and then I decided I

(51:44):
wanted to stay in Utah and allUtah schools are D one colleges,
which means I would have had todrop five more seconds on my
hundred breaststroke to even beconsidered.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
That is amazing, that is so fast Wow.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Insane it's.
Watching them is like the mostamazing thing ever Like they're
so fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Wow, that's incredible.
I can't even imagine that wehad one son who's who swam.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Really.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Not not very fast, but he the whole COVID thing
happened to him.
His freshman year Not very fast, but the whole COVID thing
happened to him.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
His freshman year it is rough yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
And so then we moved, and so he kind of just never
got into it again.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
It's hard and swimming's not something you can
really do at home Like runnersthrive during COVID.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Yeah, exactly, swimmers not so much.
And speaking of running, I knowyou do running.
I mean, you do all kinds ofstuff.
You're an adventurous person,you're a hiker, you do all sorts
of things.
We didn't even touch on thatbecause I really wanted to focus
on the, the swimming and alittle bit about the ABC.
So, and we're kind of we'vebeen talking a long time here so
I'm not going to take too muchof your time, but I do.
I do want to find out, if youand talk to her, what's one

(52:52):
thing you would tell her.
That's maybe an 11 year oldMcKella or something like that
11 year old McKella.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
I feel like I would tell her to like it's okay to
talk more, Cause I was I mean, Iwas pretty talkative around my
family but I didn't really talkto people, and so I would tell
her like it's okay to like justbe yourself.
People aren't going to judgeyou Cause I would have my book
and read underneath my deskinstead of talking to friends
during, like, rainy day inelementary.

(53:21):
So I would just tell her, likehey, who you are is okay.
Yourself is beautiful andawesome and I love you and
you've got this and other peopleare going to love you too.
So get out there and meet somepeople, Find your tribe.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Find your tribe, meet some people.
Do you think you were shy?
Do you think that was part ofit?
You were just kind of shy.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
A little bit.
The big thing was movingBecause I had great friends
before we moved and we had livedin that house all growing up.
I think I was 10 when we, so 11was like that year after we
moved and I was, it was a newplace, like new house.
I was very overwhelmed and so,living in a new place, I was
definitely shy for that firstyear.

(54:01):
I've definitely opened up andgotten more comfortable, but
that very, very first year I waslike just trying to soak it all
in and get used to not knowingwhat street I was walking on,
cause we I I had grown up inthose neighborhoods I could just
walk across the street and grabsome sugar from the neighbors.
But I came here and I was likelike we moved 30 minutes away
and I was like I don't know anyof my neighbors, I don't know

(54:21):
where I am and so not havingthat built in my family was the
only people I knew was kind ofhard from.
Going from this like huge tribeof like play groups and dinner
groups and neighbors that wouldjust invite us over for tea
parties all the time to nobodywas a big shock for me.
So I think I would just tell 11year old me that it's all going

(54:42):
to be okay and just keepmeeting people and being
yourself.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
And then for the final thing, you've really
you've had a beautiful journeyso far and your journey is going
to keep going.
You're still.
You got a lot of years ahead ofyou and he's going to keep
going.
You're still.
You got a lot of years ahead ofyou.
You know swimmer to coachteacher.
Wife now is on the on thedocket there.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
What do you, what do you hope people take away when
they hear your story, when theylisten to this episode?
What kind of things you hopepeople take away about you,
about McKella?

Speaker 2 (55:09):
Oh, that's a hard one .
I feel like I just hope thatthey take away that you can
learn something from anybody,because, yes, I am young, I'm a
young coach, I'm a young teacher, I'm a young wife.
But just because someone's agedoes not mean you can learn from
them, and I think that's alsogoes for you can learn something
from people that have differentbeliefs, that are from

(55:29):
different places, that speakdifferent languages, and just
kind of take that openness of,okay, what can I learn from this
person and what can I teachthem?
Because we're all on the sameteam, we're all just trying to
survive life together.
So if people can learn anythingfrom me, I hope it's that you
can learn something and teacheveryone.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
McKella, thank you so much for coming on Journey with
Jake.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
Yeah, thanks for having me, jake.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
A big thank you to McKella Leeper for joining me
and sharing her story, from herdays in the pool to her new
adventures as a teacher, coachand wife.
Be sure to follow McKella onInstagram at mck underscore
swims to keep up with herinspiring journey.
Thank you so much, mckella, and, of course, thank you for
tuning in and being part ofJourney with Jake.

(56:12):
If you enjoyed this episode,I'd be so grateful if you share
it with a friend, left a ratingor review or post about it on
social media.
It really helps others discoverthe show.
Don't miss next week's episodewith Tom Barrett.
Tom is facing stage four cancer, but he's not letting that stop
him from living a life full ofpurpose, passion and adventure.

(56:33):
It's an episode you won't wantto miss life full of purpose,
passion and adventure.
It's an episode you won't wantto miss Until next time.
Just remember it's not alwaysabout the destination as it is
about the journey.
Take care everybody.