Local deafblind student finds success in swimming

Despite being born deafblind, Homewood High School junior Adele Brandrup found a sport in which she can compete and excel.

After only two years of swimming competitively, Adele now holds the state record for three events in paralympic swimming at the high-school level — 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke.

Para swimming is an accommodative sport for people with disabilities. Adele competes in high school, club and adaptive swim meets, said Julie Brandrup, Adele’s mother.

Para accommodations give Adele the same opportunity to compete in local meets as well as advance to sectionals and state, Julie said.

“I love swimming because it is my sport,” Adele said. “I like competing and giving it my best effort. Most sports are hard for me because of my low vision and deafness, but swimming makes me feel free. When I am in the water, I am on autopilot, and my body just knows what to do.”

Julie said the Lakeshore Foundation has had a big impact on Adele’s success. Adele started swim lessons at the Lakeshore Foundation with her sister when she was 4 years old, she said.

Adele was swimming recreationally at the Lakeshore Foundation until 2019, Julie said.

“Adele became interested in competing and Lakeshore helped with the complicated process of getting classified into the Paralympic system, which allowed her to enter her first para meet the summer of 2019 which was in Chicago,” Julie said. “Adele loved it. She swam in four events and loved it despite getting disqualified in breaststroke and backstroke for technicalities.”

Julie said high schools that don’t have pools of their own, like Homewood’s, are dependent on swimmers training at other facilities. The Lakeshore Foundation doesn’t just provide Adele with a training facility, but also competitive opportunities outside of the high school circuit, Julie said.

Adaptive meets are “fewer and farther between,” she said, and require travel, which is why high school and club meets are essential to staying competitive.

“Recently, Lakeshore Foundation developed its own sanctioned club, so Adele has the benefit of practicing with a team and will compete year-round,” Julie said. “She had the opportunity to meet some of her idols — paralympians Jessica Long, McKenzie Coan and McClain Hermes.”

Adele competes differently than other swimmers. For example, she uses prescription goggles to see and calculate where the wall is for her to perform a flip turn, she said.

“For a race, I cannot hear the starting sound even with a waterproof cochlear implant [a tool that helps her hear sounds] because the area is always so loud, so I adapt by using my coach or sometimes my mom as a starter,” Adele said. “They have adapted a system by tapping a leg. They touch my shoulder for ‘take your mark’ and then tap my leg for ‘go.’”

Julie and her husband, Jay, said they are proud of Adele for her persistence and success in swimming and also hope she becomes a role model for other students with disabilities.

“For me, Adele’s state records represent her fierce determination and courage,” Jay said. “It is a feat in itself just to be there, and we could not be more proud of her.”

“We hope that Adele’s participation in high school meets will encourage other swimmers with disabilities to join,” Julie said. “It is important to have a place in competitive sports.”