Tiger Talk: Success Comes From Those Around You

Tiger Talk: Success Comes From Those Around You

Welcome to #TIGERTALK – a SweetwaterNOW exclusive series where Rock Springs High School Tigers inspire our community by telling their stories in their own words.


My name is John Spicer, I am 18 years old and about to graduate from Rock Springs High School. I have been swimming since the 4th grade and have signed my letter of intent to swim for Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa.

I didn’t always enjoy swimming and never really thought about it as a sport until the summer after my fourth grade year. My parents signed me up for level one swimming since they believed it was a necessary life skill to have. There was just one problem. I was the only fourth grader in my class and was with a bunch of young kids. I remember feeling so embarrassed about being the only big kid in level one.

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Once I was able to swim down and back just once, I was put into our club swim with my other brothers so my mom didn’t have to try to be in two places at once.


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The first day of club was probably one of the hardest days for me. I thought that doing one lap would be enough and that I would be fine, but boy was I wrong. That night I felt like my entire body was going to give out at the end of practice and I remember hating it. I went to my bed that night and cried after telling my parents that I hated swimming and never wanted to do it. My parents told me that I didn’t have a choice and that I had to keep going until they knew I could swim efficiently. So I kept at it, not really connecting with anyone since I didn’t want to be there in the first place.

Once I got into junior high and high school, I started to realize how important your teammates really are. Going into those seasons, I got to swim in relays and saw just how much fun they were and how important they are to the team. The most amazing thing about swimming for Rock Springs was just how much everyone would go cheer for each other.

Without the support of our teammates and their incredible families, I don’t think we would have done as well as we did this year. Everyone had to play their part so that we all could do our best, especially in our state relays. I couldn’t have asked for better teammates to finish my high school career with, especially when it came to the relays I swam on.

Dailen Pedersen, Timothy Stephens, and Gunner Seiloff were all hard working swimmers in their individual events, but they worked their hardest when it came to those relays. We all wanted to break the school record in the 200 freestyle relay and that wouldn’t have been possible without all of our combined efforts and hard work. I remember there were times we wanted to stop and take a rest during those hard sets in practice, but we didn’t. If we gave up in practice, then we would be willing to give up in a race too.

I was fortunate to have broken school, pool, and conference records and won back-to-back state championships in the 100 free, but I wouldn’t have accomplished any of this without my teammates and coaches by my side the entire way.

Ron DeFauw had been my coach for most of my life from club swimming to three of my four high school seasons. He has been a person to look up to as he made it to the Olympic Trials and was an amazing competitor. He never gave up on me and didn’t let me quit, even when I really wanted to. He saw my potential, and he knew I would accomplish great things that I never thought were possible for myself. I know that I wouldn’t be going to the college of my choice without the help and the coaching I was given from him.

The same goes for Avery Otto who coached me my junior and senior years of high school. She was an NCAA division one swimmer for the University of Wyoming, the same place Coach DeFauw swam. She helped me with my sprint work and technique and was the biggest factor in my state victory last year. It was because of her coaching that I finished 1/100th of second in front of the second place swimmer.

During the summer I swam for SWAT (Sweetwater Aquatics Team) in Green River with Coaches Casey Jensen and Allen Clark. They have given me the opportunity to swim and compete with a great team in the off season. I can’t say thank you enough to all of my coaches for everything they have done for me. I know that I won’t ever forget what they have taught me and will continue to follow their guidance as I transition into my college career.

I can’t wait to see what college has in store, and I plan to work hard for my new coaches and teammates at Morningside University.