While many teenagers spent their summer sleeping in, swimming and relaxing, 14-year-old Fair Oaks Ranch teens Eva and Alex Koerner dove right into more early mornings, long practices, and grueling laps in the pool. These lifelong Fair Oaks Ranch residents are seriously competitive swimmers, and summer is an opportunity to pour even more into the sport they love.

They first dipped their toes into swimming when they tried out a summer league five years ago and learned they loved it. They took it to the next level with year-round club competition and now swim with NIST, a club that practices almost every day of the week.

Although these sisters share the sport of competitive swimming, they have different strengths and specialties. Eva focuses on sprint freestyle events such as the 50-, 100-, and 200-yard races, while Alex focuses on endurance events such as the 500, 1,000, and even mile long races.  

For these girls, swimming is a year-round sport that requires quite a bit of time and commitment. Swim meets are monthly occurrences, sometimes requiring travel to places such as Austin and Midland. “We have practice every day except Sunday,” the girls explained. A break from school in the summer means there is more time for early morning workouts. 

This hard work has surely paid off. Within the South Texas swimming system, swimmers can advance to increasingly difficult levels of competition, and both girls have qualified for championship-level meets.

They also see the rewards of hard work and commitment outside of the swimming world. Eva and Alex shared that their choice to commit to the sport of swimming has helped them grow mental toughness and learn perseverance. “If you’re used to working when you’re tired and doing things when you don’t want to, it helps in other parts of life too,” Eva said. “It helps with school and other challenges because you know you still have to keep going.”

Challenges come in a variety of different ways for these swimmers. Eva recently experienced a knee injury that kept her away from practicing and competing for a while, and she had to put in the hard work to regain her strength and confidence in the pool.

Swimming has also been an important source of community and friendships. Not surprisingly, all the time spent training in the pool, traveling to meets, and cheering on fellow swimmers has led to strong bonds and great memories together. 

The girls are headed to Antonian College Preparatory High School in the fall. As they prepare for high school, Eva and Alex will continue to pursue the sport they love with a spirit of dedication and camaraderie in this community of Fair Oaks Ranch that has always been their home.