20190207JWColbyLoveProfile02

Colby Love, center, 18, of Bethel Park, looks down toward the water as he steps to the edge of the pool for warm-ups on senior night before the swim team’s meet against Canon-McMillan, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, at Bethel Park High School in Bethel Park. “There were like, points where I like… I wasn’t even able to look past like, tomorrow,” says Love thinking back to the consuming depression and anxiety he battled in his sophomore and junior years of high school. Love, a swimmer since childhood, was a rising star on the Bethel Park High School girls swim team, until sudden and severe mental health issues began to surface. After taking a year off of both school and swimming, undergoing bouts of treatment and therapy, Love decided to have top surgery. This is when he officially changed his gender to male and began to find solace. Getting back in the pool, in what can be considered his senior year of high school, Love now swims not for the team, not for the times, not for the coaches, but for himself.