Atherton has many talented athletes with all very different stories, one of which is swimmer Lily Chaney (12). Chaney is one of the captains for the Atherton Swim Team but is also a very talented athlete outside of swimming.

Chaney has been an athlete since she was 6 years old. Every sport from soccer, swimming, cross country, gymnastics, to tennis she has picked up and played. Not only does Chaney have high aspirations for sports, but she also does in the medical field. Chaney is going to college at the University of Louisville for nursing, and plans after to work in the ICU and then become a nurse anesthetist.

Chaney is not only completing the patient care medical pathway at Atherton, but she also works at the Jewish Community Center teaching swimming. She works as a group swim instructor, teaching 3 to 5 kids per 30 minute session. On top of all of this, she is the coach of the swim team at the JCC.

Lily, who helps lead many team practices with fellow captains Wesley Drake (12) and Trey Leister (12), loves being on the team and working with her fellow team mates.

Lily said that “It’s very, very important to have a good team environment and to love the people that you’re swimming with, and then also not just loving the people you’re with, but also loving the sport and putting in the work. You have to be able to push through the pain to get to where you want to go”.

Looking forward into the future, she is practicing for an Ironman. This event is a total of 70.3 miles, spread across biking, swimming, and running. This was all sparked because of the swim team volunteering at the Ironman in 2024. One of the people in that race came and talked to Lily and it caught her interest, and has been training for it ever since.

Chaney’s advice for achieving success is simple, yet true:

“If you wanna be a champion, you have to work for it.”