Sacrificing now for a future goal

The night Osama bin Laden was killed by a Navy SEAL team, Mike DeRocco received a text message from a friend that prompted him to turn on the television in his Knoxville, Tenn., apartment. DeRocco is five weeks away from leaving for Navy boot camp, the first step in a process that could eventually end in the college swimmer who set state records at Niskayuna High becoming a SEAL. If he weren't preparing for boot camp, he could have been at the U.S. Olympic Trials competing for a trip to London to swim the 100-meter butterfly. DeRocco qualified for the Trials in 2010, as a senior at the University of Tennessee. After having swum for Schenectady-Saratoga Swim Club, DeRocco decided to return to swimming by joining the Niskayuna High School team in his senior year. At the state meet, he broke longstanding records in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle. DeRocco was recruited to Tennessee by its former head coach — Shaker High graduate John Trembley — and by his senior year of college he had won All-America honors as part of four relay teams.