Personal Narrative: Synchronized Swimming

The start of my freshman year was a thrilling experience for me. To start out my freshman year I made the schools Varsity soccer team, a huge accomplishment for me. However, I was naïve to the coming situation to myself. I was on the path to continuous harassment from teammates as I was surrounded by seniors. Many of the seniors had egos, full of themselves in every aspect possible. It was a rude awakening to the reality of high school to be apart of this team as a freshman. In retrospect, I believe that my transition into high school would have been smoother if I would’ve asked to be on the Junior varsity. Although this would have hindered my growth as a player, it’s a sacrifice I realize now that would have been worth it.

My passion for track and field began with a Nike advertisement. At age ten, I opened the newspaper to a two-page spread of the hometown distance running legend Steve Prefontaine overlaid by a paragraph of inspirational copy. It concluded asking, “Where is the Next Pre?” The story of his small town Oregon roots, gutsy racing style, and ambition to be the best resonated with me like nothing ever had before. I told myself I was the next Pre, and then tore off for my first run through the streets of Eugene, Oregon – “Tracktown USA”.

It is my desire to attend the United States Naval Academy. My goal is to follow in my father 's footsteps as an officer in the naval branch of our armed forces. My father began his career as an enlisted seaman twenty years ago and is now serving as a Lieutenant.

During my high school year, I had joined the color guard team. Trying out for and being on the team had taught me a lot about myself and what I expect from myself. I had tried out for the team twice.

You never know how helpless you are until you have a near death experience. One summer, when I was young, my family and I went to a water park. I didn’t know how to swim, but thankfully the majority of the park required no swimming ability. For one of the rides, I wanted to get out of my tube and jump around, but once I climbed out, I immediately sunk to the bottom. I tried to kick back up and just as my legs gave in, a lifeguard climbed in and pulled me up. I was grateful to him, but something was bothering me. I couldn’t save myself. That was the moment I decided that I was going to become a lifeguard someday to help myself and many others.

One incident I can recount when I experienced failure was when I joined Cross Country. Since, I can remember I have always excelled at everything I did, from my academics to dance class to music lessons. When I entered into my freshman year of high school, I decided I would to join an athletic team in order to keep myself occupied outside of academics. I figured joining a sport would be another good attribute to add to my resume. Initially, my mind was set to join the soccer team. However, I found out there weren’t any openings available. The only team that had an opening was The Cross Country Team. I was terrified…my parents encouraged me to join as there wasn’t an option not to.

Anyone who knows me knows that I used to be a gymnast, and that I was absolutely crazy about the sport. I started doing gymnastics at the age of three, which was too young to be in kindergarten but not too early to start gymnastics. Fast forward six years, and my coaches invited me to start doing gymnastics competitively.

I was never truly an avid reader when I was younger. I was the oldest of five siblings and left in charge of taking care of my younger brothers and sister. I was more prone to spending time outside than reading a book. Of course, I did find myself enjoying a good mystery novel, but playing ball would always trump even a good book. All through school, I would find myself actively participating in one sport to another. I loved being active and thinking only of what I wanted to do. Life has a way of becoming a reality. The choices I made during my younger years have followed me to my current years. The busyness of work, family, and children have restricted my own freedom of time. Reading has become my favorite way of personal freedom without having to leave home. My favorite author at this present time is Beth Moore. She meticulously portrays God’s word and opened my eyes to the strength and power of God’s word for me today. God created me and has a specific purpose for me to fulfill. In order to begin this process, I need to accept and believe in

A warm morning, sun shining with a slight breeze, and calm waters; the perfect day to learn how to water ski. I had never been water skiing before, I barely knew what it was, I was anxious to say in the least. I stood on the dock as my parents maneuvered the boat into the water, I’ve never been so uncertain. My family reassured me that everything would be okay as I was strapped up my life jacket. I stood on the edge of the boat, apprehensive, but I had to jump in the water, it was now or never.

Ever since middle school sports have always been an interest of mine. When choosing my high school the sports that were offered was one of the many things that I took into consideration. I signed up for cheer during high school orientation. At the first practice, It was a new experience for majority of the girls; we had no prior experience. As time went on, our skills increased. However, we started taking tumbling classes. I couldn 't do it. That 's when the doubts in my ability began. I embodied the fixed mindset perfectly. Dweck said “ Your ability is on the line. Can you feel everyone 's eyes on you? Can you see the instructor 's face evaluating you? Feel the tension, feel your ego bristle and waver”. I stopped being eager to learn new things , I stopped showing up and dressing for practice, and I also came up with excuses to not cheer publicly. I stayed

My lungs were burning, my knees stung, and my legs screamed with every step. I knew I had to keep on running. The crowd was roaring, but my breathing was loud enough to drown out the noise. Suddenly out of nowhere there was a girl at my side, I remembered her, and she played dirty. Keeping my temper in check I tried to push on, but she didn’t give up and sent me crashing to the ground. Pain blooms on the right side of my body. Truthfully I was glad for the break, the pain was manageable. Having paused for a moment, I slowly pulled myself to my feet and check my body for damage. My teammate asked if I was okay, I nodded. A shout from a familiar voice brought my head back into the game. I started jogging to where I was supposed to be even though

It was the summer before my freshman year when I made the most influential choice towards my life. In a spur of the moment decision I signed up for the Verona girls golf team. I made my mind up in 6th grade that I was going to do volleyball in the Fall because pretty much all the girls did volleyball and thought they were the best players ever. I never even thought about doing golf. This was my mindset until I really started to think and thought to myself, “I’m not even good at volleyball. I wouldn't move up in the rankings as fast as I would for golf. Is it really worth playing a sport I’m bad at with all my friends? Or playing a sport I’m good at with none of my friends”.

My eyes stared at the top shelf of my bookcase. I counted eight trophies, three ribbons, and two game balls. The medal I was adding to the collection was the one I am the proudest of. I glanced down at the golf ball sized bronze medal and the little orange ribbon attached to it. It read "Special Olympics Soccer: 3rd place". I thought about the tournament I just arrived from. We lost all five games, we didn't score once, but more importantly, we didn't care. Smiling, I relived the time where I told my team we won second place. I wasn't going to erase their gigantic grins by telling them there are only two teams; I let them exchange hugs and high-fives among each other before doing the same with me.

The friends I’ve made through the Stars program will be my friends for life. The hard work I’ve been through makes me a stronger person today. Swimming has taught me that challenges are nothing when you have loved ones by your side. My freshman year the upperclassmen used to always say: “Bring honor to the family!” It sounded out of place back then, but now it makes sense. The Stars family really is a family. Not only do we have a lot of fast swimmers, we have a whole lot of heart that can’t be found

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.