A bowl of cereal awaits David Desena everyday during the school year at 4 a.m.

Swim practice at the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center follows this bowl of cereal from 4:30 to 6:30 in the morning.

After practice, he rushes to school, and after seven hours of classes, he goes back to the Brandon Center and starts practice again from 3:30 to 7:30. These workouts include swimming and dry-land conditioning six days a week. Then, being an IB student, Desena goes home to piles of homework.

“Not a moment is lost,” Desena said of his chaotic schedule.

All the work has paid off though. As a freshman, David was the only member of the swim team to advance to the state finals.

“It was different.” Desena said. “There [weren’t] age groups. It was just everyone thrown in.” He hopes to be a top swimmer at states every year.

Also with all the hard work he has put in, Desena is now on the senior squad at the Brandon Center. Desena had the experience to travel to Ireland with the team, where they spent two weeks swimming.

But the road for Desena started long before the Brandon swim club. This Olympic hopeful started swimming at the age of 4. At 8, he began swimming competitively under the guidance of Mike Greenwell, his former coach and still a family friend.

When David’s family moved to Brandon at 11, he began training at the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center.

Since then, his work ethic has increased, his abilities have risen above and beyond expectations, and he has grown to harness a powerful butterfly stroke.

Support has never been lacking during his career. Greenwell, Desena’s former coach, said, “David’s dad is always looking for him to go above average.” David agrees with his former coach and says, “He’s always there running along the side of the pool pushing people out of the way to cheer me on.”

So what are Desena’s plans for the future? “That’s a good question,” Greenwell jokes. “David has done great things despite [others’] beliefs.”

This year Desena hopes to make the junior nationals squad, and in two years the U.S. swimming open. For the school team, he wants to medal at states and be an All- American.

Desena explains that professional swimming might not be in his future: “It’s not the big bucks kind of sport.” So Desena hopes to go into criminal law at the University of Florida, and of course, he would swim for the Gators.

During swim season at HHS, Desena attends his club swim team’s practices over school practice until the day before a school meet.

As it is, his summer conditioning is rough, but during the school year, with homework, it is even more challenging. As a matter of fact, sometimes David doesn’t want to practice, but he pushes through the tough days in search of greatness.David’s mornings will always be awaited by the same thing: a bowl of cereal and swim practice.

“If I stopped swimming a part of me would be missing. It’s a love-hate relationship,” he said.