The sound of the whistle jolted me into action. I dove from the block, and a wave of silence crashed over me as I hit the water. For a moment, there was a sense of serenity as I swam under the surface. The spell broke as I rose for air. I could hear everyone yelling and cheering. Tuning out the noise, I tucked my head under the water, staring at the pool’s tiled floor. Nearing the wall, I lifted my head to gather a breath of air before my flip turn to start my second lap. Looking up, I saw five of my team members at the end of my lane cheering for me. With a renewed energy from their excitement, I turned and continued the race. After the race was over and I was out of the pool, I took my hard-earned ribbon and scurried back to where my swim …show more content…
I was in the locker room surrounded by girls that I did not know. They all seemed to know each other. I began to feel like a fish out of water. When I found my friend, she led me out to the pool area where we waited for the rest of the team to trickle in. They were all chatting amongst themselves before the coach began practice. Practice lasted about two hours, during which I pushed myself to keep up. The team, I had realized, consisted of kids that had been doing this their whole lives. I found myself comparing everything I did to the others in my lane. My dives seemed sloppy, my turns were a mess, and my stamina ran out quickly. My abilities seemed to pale in comparison.
Exhaustion was all I felt by the time I arrived at home. I pushed myself to keep up with everyone, but I overdid it. I did not want to go back. It was too much for me, and I wanted to quit. In retrospect, the whole scenario I created in my mind was quite dramatic. I felt that I was the worst on the team and that because I was so terrible, no one would like me. After only one practice I was ready to give up. I did not want to put in the effort. Fortunately, my parents forced me to continue with the team. I arrived the next day with an intense
I then got my height and weight measured 6ft 1in 221 lbs, which Is huge for a thirteen year old, but compared to all of the others I was underweight. I then began to wait for the coaches to call us up for warm-ups, my dad came up to me and told me this “ You have been training for this since February, you have put the work in and now you are ready”. As I was waiting I looked around and saw many very athletic looking athletes, many were bragging to each other about how they would definitely make the team. Lots of guys looked bigger, stronger, and faster. I could tell that I was the only one who was still thirteen.
The coach took him out of the water individually and told him how much he appreciated
I made the gold team and my friend was on the team with me nothing could be better than this. As I walked inside I met my friend at the door. We hugged each other and both proclaimed to each other how awesome it was that we were on the same team. I met my teammates with and we all exchanged hellos. We started doing a warmup and stretching everything was good until we started skills.
Now I knew almost all of the coaches except the freshmen. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew we were going to come out and work hard every practice. All I wanted to do was impress the coaches. I had an advantage over all my teammates, I kinda knew what they expected.
A sense of jubilation ran across my body while having a stomach full of butterflies was with me as we did our team cheer for the first time before our first game. The coach gave the starting line-up, I was not in the starting eleven. I expected this because I was in fact one of the new players. The referee blew the
Trying something new can sometimes be a scary process. Sometimes it can be easy for someone, or it can make someone feel quite anxious. How it will turn out is a mystery and that can contribute to the feeling. I felt very anxious when I tried something new. When I tried it out, I ended up having a lot of fun and I still do it today.
My nerves from the first class unexpectedly came rushing back. These students grew into great swimmers, but I knew that the depth of the water could petrify them. The first few students were able to swim back up with little to no effort, but the last girl lost her footing and slipped into the pool and couldn 't resurface. I froze as I saw her struggling to swim and breathe. My mind quickly flashed back to the time I jumped out of my tube and almost drowned.
In this season, I swam three times a week at my local indoor pool often forging seventeen laps a session. Not bad for a sixty year old. I was ready for a swim and confident that I could keep up with the boys. I began to make my way to the end of the Pier where the boys were. The water was clear and although I could not touch the bottom I could see the sand below me.
A quote I have heard many times throughout my life is “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.” This has constantly been harped on me by my dad all throughout my swimming career. Whether it was my breaststroke or freestyle I always strove to do better but wouldn’t always come up with the results I was looking for. That is when my dad would mention this quote and explain to me that in order to get better I would have to put in the extra work and do things I had never done before in order to get better. Many times I never really listened and didn’t take the time to do what he suggested in order to improve myself.
Summer of Survival There I was standing in my yard waiting for my ride to Whittier to show up. All was quiet mostly because we all knew when that old Cummins pulled in the driveway It would be goodbye for a while. I had been looking forward to this for a long time 4 months to be exact. I had wanted to commercial fish since I was a small boy.
Work hard, push yourself, put the time in, and stay determined and you can do great thing in life. This was something my parents told me repeatedly throughout my childhood. When they would tell me this I never really believed them. However, many years later I realized that their words could not be more true.
(We can be so melodramatic when those tough sets get scrawled up on the whiteboard.) But then what happens? You not only finish the set—but you leave the pool with a little pep in your step and a renewed sense of self-belief.
My whole family was watching under the hot weather they were scared I would drown in the middle off the pool and I did. I was saved by someone in a reclining chair and my uncle said “are you okay”? After my talk with my uncle I sat under the sun to rethink about what happened. One day, I was so happy to finally go to the pool. I was going with Fatima, jasmine, awa, adama, and I were going to have fun for a day.
Once I got to sixth grade, for some odd reason, I decided to quit soccer and pursue dance. That was probably the worst experience of my life and only lasted about three months. I was even worse at this and jammed my thumb about four times. I went back to soccer and started using all my excuses again. However, this time I noticed how awful I was.
but then I realized I could breathe underwater! On my way back to the surface of the water I felt a presence and heard a voice say “we