Sophie Harrison’s life could be the basis for a TV drama.
At a young age, the Kaiser senior was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD, and she’s overcome some teenage bumps to land on a path toward attending San Diego State on a swimming scholarship this fall.
“ADHD, other kids didn’t know what it meant,” Harrison said in an interview Saturday. “They thought I was stupid. But it doesn’t have to do with intelligence.”
The aforementioned medical terms describe impediments in the learning process, and while they’ll always be there for Harrison, she has found a way to weaken their grip and cope.
Two private schools — Assets (grades 4-6) and Waldorf (7-9) — equipped her with confidence and the tools to come up with her own style of learning before she enrolled at Kaiser as a sophomore.
“My best subject is English, and I love to write poetry and essays and stories,” the bright-eyed, smiling Harrison said. “I used to hate English. At first, (my creativity) started with all drawing. Eventually, I would get inspired by the drawing to write poetry about it, and then it became books and books of drawings and poetry.”
With so much schoolwork and swim training in high school and club on the schedule, it’s amazing Harrison can find the time for writing and art.
She comes from a highly accomplished swimming family. Her mom and dad, Shannon and Sean, met in the weight room while swimming for Long Beach State. Her sister, Summer, was a swimming standout at Mid-Pacific and is about to finish up her college career at San Diego State.
Sophie’s high school years have had some rocky parts to go along with the high points. She quit swimming and went through some dark times late in her sophomore year, but bounced back as a junior to break the OIA championship meet 100 butterfly record, set two relay records with teammates and win the 200 freestyle.
“I went through some emotional changes,” Harrison said. “I was thinking about very deep things for my age and wasn’t sure what I was doing. I had competed since age 6. At that point, I was 16 and had never done anything else. Did I really want to be doing it or was I doing it because it was familiar? I had some family members pass away and it was really traumatic and our whole family had a lot to deal with.”
This is precisely the time when art entered Harrison’s life.
“I thought I would be horrible at it,” she said. “Now, I’m ripping though art books (with drawings and poetry). It’s insane.”
She came back to swimming, and despite those three records last year, she did not compete at states.
“I had been going through confrontations with my coach consistently in the season,” Harrison said. “What it really was, though, was my head wasn’t in the game.”
Harrison and Cougars coach Asa Tanaka had a talk and worked out their differences, and Harrison is now preparing for this year’s OIAs and states.
“I respect him a lot,” she said. “He’s my coach and I will always respect him. I learned a lot from those experiences. We talked about my goals and how far I’d come. I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to be here and stay in this and I’m going to give everything I’ve got my last year and go into college on a good streak.’ ”
Said Tanaka, “Once we got things worked out, we both learned from it and the team benefited from her being there.”
It had been a goal for Harrison to go to what she described as a “normal” school, Kaiser, after being in private school settings.
“There was a rumor that Sophie was going to transfer (from Waldorf/Pac-Five), but I wondered why she would want to do that and sit out a year,” Tanaka said. “We were all excited. We were hoping she came out. Being on the team with her friends was important. She was going to do whatever it took to be on the team so she could swim and contribute. It worked out.”
Harrison said it’s been a blessing to have gotten back together with teammates and record-breaking relay partners Erin Patterson, Mari Esumi and Sofia Carlson, whom she considers long-time great friends.
Harrison considers qualifying for nationals a third time and attending once (in Austin, Texas) as the highlight of her career so far.
She is super close with sister Summer.
“We have an amazing relationship,” Sophie said. “She is my best friend. She taught me to be grateful about my age group and high school swimming and savor the time I can spend with family and friends at home on beautiful days like this.”
Training is not Harrison’s favorite thing about the sport, however, and that story line would be a big part of that hypothetical TV drama based on her life.
“I don’t love to train, but I do it because I love to win,” she said. “I love the competition and the people.”
Both Tanaka and Dustin Fukuda, her club coach at Punahou Aquatics, know about that aspect: the naturally gifted athlete who could excel even more with increased elbow grease. Harrison, admittedly, doesn’t hit the books with superhuman vigor, either.
“Sophie is an extremely talented swimmer,” Tanaka said. “She’s upbeat, energetic and well-liked by classmates.”
Fukuda likes how Harrison handles the pressure of competition among many of her other traits.
“For her, when it’s go time, it’s go time,” he said. “She was born with an innate sense of feel for the water. It’s in her blood, I guess.”
SOPHIE HARRISON
>> School: Kaiser
>> Sport: Swimming
>> Grade: 12
>> Height: 5 feet 6
>> Weight: 120 pounds
>> Club team: Punahou Aquatics
>> College commitment: San Diego State
>> Planned college major: Psychology
>> Possible career path: Real estate, sales
>> Parents: Sean and Shannon
>> Sister: Summer
>> Favorite subjects: English, history
>> Favorite movie: “The Little Mermaid”
>> Favorite TV shows: “Friends” and “The Blue Planet”
>> Favorite books: “Harry Potter” series
>> Other interests: Drawing, writing, singing
>> Nickname: “Smeash”
