Personal Narrative-Racism Swim

Finally, on a frigid November day, the test date had arrived. All day I was nervous as I fidgeted in my classes before the boys in our class headed for our swim test. I was scheduled to go in the 2nd group, which was especially annoying as I watched boys complete the test in as little as just under 4 minutes. This certainly did not help my self-confidence, especially as I had gained a reputation as the slowest in the class. Finally, it was my turn, and as I headed into the pool I could just feel the adrenaline rushing through me. As I started the test I felt like I was swimming faster than normal, and continued to feel good as I completed the first 100 metres. Then, like before, I started to tire, due in part to my head up swimming technique,

When the time for our pool class came I could not back down, so the first thing I did when I entered the pool was to dunk my head in the water and wet my face, to which I received a mouthful of chlorinated water. As I spat it out, I was unsure whether I should even try swimming with my head underwater or if I should continue with my previous technique. I decided to plow on since I had already mentally prepared. As I did, I practiced taking 3 strokes then coming up for a breath of air like the instructor had told me the previous week. While doing this, I felt myself propel through the water faster than ever before, and I felt less fatigued too, likely because this form was more aerodynamic and I no longer had to swim with extra weight since human heads naturally float [1]. Not only was I able to complete my warmup faster, but I also had faced, and conquered, my fear of swimming with my head underwater. I was ecstatic that day, and I could not wait to practice again in the coming weeks as I prepared for the next swim test. In the following weeks, I practiced swimming in this fashion, and was rewarded for it as I completed the next test in under 10 minutes. During the next year and a half at Swansea Public School, I continued to make progress, and worked on my swimming form, trying to improve my stroke length and lung capacity. Eventually, at the completion of grade 8, I was able to complete

Now, I am able to swim quite well and I often do so for much further than 200 metres. I now realize that knowing how to swim is an important life skill, is an excellent workout that naturally cools the body, and is essential if I ever need to help a drowning person [2]. I often think that if I never learned how to swim well when I was in middle school, I would not be the person I am today, not only because I would not have learned to swim, but because I would not have faced one of my greatest