Motlomi grew up in a small Caribbean village called Vermont on the island of St. Vincent & The Grenadines where he taught himself to swim in local rivers and in the nearby sea. As a teenager, his family moved to the US where he excelled as a high school football player and as a track and field athlete. Back then he used swimming as therapy after the grueling toll that football and track took on his body. His high school swim coach noticed Motlomi's talent in the water and encouraged him to take the sport more seriously. Motlomi wisely agreed, choosing the path of water over the high impact of football, and soon he was also teaching the sport that he had once taught himself back home in the Caribbean. Motlomi now has seven years teaching experience and notes that his biggest joy is sharing a life-saving skill that will be with his students forever.