Dalton Tevlin/Sports Director
In a small, Olympic style pool in Tamiami, Prachi Mirchandani prepares to dive and compete in the 50-meter swim. She nervously puts her goggles on as they snap, leaving her more anxious than she was heading into the competition.
But of nowhere, a fresh pair of goggles appears at her feet, she is unsure where they came from. She scrambles to put on her goggles as she prepares to compete for a spot in nationals. Three-quarters of the way through the race her body freezes, she feels her self paralyzed as she sees the finish line in sight.
Without any explanation, she thrusts forward and gets two hands on the wall. The first thing she see’s as she pops her head out fo the water is her mom’s tear-filled face, she had won.
This was Mirchandani’s first competition months after a devastating shark attack injury on Haulover beach.
Mirchandani began swimming at three years old, and at the age of eight, her coaches and peers saw she had talent.
Growing up Mirchandani had dreams of competing in the Pan American games for her home nation of Venezuela. That all took a turn for the worse, however, when her foot was attacked by a shark.
Prachi Mirchandani in the hospital after the attack. Courtesy of Prachi Mirchandani.
After being told she would possibly never walk properly again, Mirchandani knew that was not an option.
After her injury, she lost her spot on the Venezuelan national team within a week of the attack. She thought her competitive swimming career was coming to an end.
“Since I was a kid I knew that everything that happens has a purpose,” said Mirchandani.
After months of not swimming, a friend from Venezuela told Mirchandani about a competition going on in Tamiami that she should look into. Excited to give her passion another shot, Prachi immediately grabbed her gear and went looking for a spot on the team.
Her injury to her foot left her without the ability to kick, and the time away from the pool saw her lose much of her upper body strength.
“They told me I couldn’t even kick and I lost my strength,” said Mirchandani. “They said I had no talent.”
Her body was failing her. Mirchandani describes leaving practice every day for the first month in tears.
Despite her adversity, Mirchandani knew it was up to her to get her body where it needed to be.
“If I don’t fight for myself, nobody is going to fight for me” said Mirchandani.
She continued to show up and put in the work her body needed to get into form. After a month of gruesome training, it was finally time for her to compete again. Originally competing in the 100-meter swim before the shark attack, her coach decided the 50-meter free would give her the best shot at success.
After winning the 50, Prachi had qualified for nationals but felt her body wasn’t ready to compete on that level.
Now, as an FIU freshman studying international relations, swimming is still a huge part of Mirchandani’s life.
Mirchandani is the embodiment of the phrase “just keep swimming”. Her positive mindset and won’t quit attitude allows her to continue her lifelong dream.
Mirchandani’s goals have changed since the attack, however. The end goal at one time was to compete in the Pan American games, today her goal is to inspire others to attack adversity head-on.
“I don’t care about people knowing me, if I can inspire myself I can inspire other people” said Mirchandani, “Thats the goal”.
Prachi was one of my very best students and after meeting her last year I could never doubt Prachi is capable to anything. She will be a great person of note one day and I’ll be glad to tell others, “she was once my students”.
Dr. Peters