There were no deep roots for Lia Neal to grab onto. At 17, she is one of the roots and a likely source of inspiration for a younger generation. “This young lady is going to touch someone who’s going to be reaching for that higher goal also because of what Lia is doing right now in the water,” Rome Neal said. There are costs, certainly. But there are also organizations that provide grants and scholarships for swimmers who display talent and commitment. For example, Lia received a scholarship from Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics, a Manhattan nonprofit whose mission is to help people achieve health through sports and fitness, and her school, Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, also contributed money to help defray the costs of training.

“It doesn’t have to be expensive,” Rome Neal said. “If you have raw talent, you can exceed so many barriers. But the sport itself, it can be costly.”

Perhaps even more important than money is an unwavering commitment — of time, resources and an attitude that all things are possible. Lia Neal and her family, especially her mother, had a ferocious commitment to possibility.

Getting up at 5 in the morning. Driving from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Practicing for two hours. Going to school. Working out again for two hours after school. Traveling to meets around the country. Saving vacation time for those meets.

“There was a lot of time, a lot of hard work, a lot of determination, for the child,” Siu Neal said in a recent interview. “She gave up a lot of the privileges other young people have. All of her time was either practicing swimming or dry land training or going to school. When she came home, she had homework to do. It seems like she always had to race against time to get everything done.”

But the commitment is not just by the athlete.

“Any parent would do what I do,” Siu Neal said. “They all spend lots of time with their kids, take them to swimming practice, bringing them to competitions and meets. I don’t consider it giving up anything. I enjoy watching her swim; I even loved to watch her practice.”