Personal Narrative: Water Skiing

It was one of those moments where the pressure was on me. And this was one of those moments, which I’ve been dreading ever since I started swim team. It was a race between Liann Tran, one of the fastest people I know, and myself. We knew each other ever since we were infants, and Liann’s mom was the one that recommended my mom to sign me up for swim team. From there on, we began swimming with each other throughout the yearlong season with the Cascade Swim Team that ends during the summer. Throughout the summer, we were in the Southern Division Championship for Summer Swim League. At that time, I didn’t really have a choice but to swim with different coaches at the Southwest pool because I didn’t have a ride to the Rainier Beach pool.

Snowboarding, like any other sport, one must be thinking at all times, analyzing situations, making split decisions, and making quick calculations. Before my trip, I had only flown on an airplane once, never by myself, I have never seen a mountain so big, and I had zero experience snowboarding. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have entered this new experience with more confidence in myself.

It was a cold winter night in Upstate New York. My mom and dad were enjoying a cup of coffee, my sisters were playing video games, and I was editing a few pictures on my computer. My mom brought up the idea of a vacation. She said” We haven’t been on a vacation for a long time”. We all agreed and were hoping for my dad to also agree. Then my father said with a cheerful voice “Where do you guys want to go for vacation”. Me and my sister Rahma wanted to go to Florida, but, my other sister Selsibila wanted to go to California. Since Florida is closer and most of us agreed on going to Florida my parents said, “Ok then Florida it is” and we all ran to our rooms to pack up our stuff. My father quickly went on his computer and started looking for a rental. After we packed up all our stuff my dad said” Everyone go to bed, so we can wake up fresh in the morning and get the trip started”. So, we all went to bed. I can barely sleep thinking about all the fun were going to have. After about 15 minutes everyone was sound asleep and so was I.

There I was out in the cold, in the middle of January, at 6:00 AM. I had put my skis in the bus and was waiting for Mr. Mud to get on the bus and do a roll call. It was the third race of the season, but it would be my first time actually racing. Once, Mr. Mud was done, we left Simsbury High School, and headed to some far off place to ski. When we arrived at out skiing destination, we got our belongings out of the bus, settled in at the lodge, and began practicing. At first, I had a bit of trouble staying on balance and actually skiing, but then I finally balanced myself out. I tried doing one run of the course, and it was quite challenging. I didn’t even make it past the first hill, but I didn’t know how. I returned to the lodge early. Then, the races began, and I became quite anxious as the beginner race

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.

It was mid season, I had just made section time in the 100 backstroke a week ago. I was on my way to being top four on the Sartell swim team, and making the state team. Then one day during the beginning of practice I came above the surface of the water but something was off. I looked around and everyone was looking at me. I thought I just went fast or made a weird noise, but I was wrong. The coach came over and told me to go to the showers. I was concerned because the workout was not over yet. I went to the showers and rinsed off, I still did not know what was wrong. Then I looked in the mirror. My face was a bumpy, gross tomato.

I take a deep breath my lip quivering as the wind blows on the last week of winter vacation. My family decided to go on a road trip up to Big Bear. We decided to stay the whole week. It was a snowy beautiful drive up the mountain. We stayed up in our cabin and I brought one of my friends up with me. My sisters me and my friend Ally all decided to take snowboarding lessons for four straight up days and we would be having lessons for four hours a day.

The fear of falling was overpowering, it made me feel weak and scared. One Saturday my father, stepmother, little sister and I were headed out to our family's Cabin to go tubing behind Russ` speedboat on Lake May.

It was the summer of 2006 and, because my parents divorced when I was 5 years old, I was visiting my dad for his allotted two months in the summer. The Fourth of July has always been my stepmom, Brooklyne’s, favorite so we went down to her parents house in Montrose, Colorado. Brooklyne had planned for my step cousins to come down and we would all spend a couple days at my grandparents house. Then on the fourth we would drive down to Telluride, Colorado because they always have a huge festival on the fourth and it was only an hour and thirty minutes from my grandparents house. When we arrived at my grandparents house there was excitement in the air due to the fact that we would soon be taking the trip to Telluride. When my cousins, Emily and Josie, arrived the

I’m on a mountain, I just overcame my first obstacle the chair lift. Which I thought would be harder than it was I miraculously didn’t fall or knock over the other skiers/snowboarders. I glanced back up at the gleaming mountain becoming easily distracted by the flawless stroke of every turn as the pros make their way down. I say quietly to myself “Isn’t this suppose to be a beginners hill?” They have gopros strapped to their helmets and are racing each other down. All I can think in that moment is how am I supposed to be able to do that. Those suave perfect turns the gentle touch the snowboard has with the fresh powder from that morning. They look at each other with excitement in their eyes and adventure in their hearts. I feel completely uncomfortable and awkward. Pushing off and hit the ground face first. The ice cold snow melts onto my face, I laugh at myself and hope to god the people around me didn’t see that. No one was paying attention to me they all had this type of confidence and excitement to learn and grow. I stood back up and headed down the hill with all force, not knowing how to turn I abruptly put my snowboard on healedge and slammed to a stop. Little did I know I was already halfway down the hill.

“You two, get the ball down the pool and take a shot, just make sure it’s inbounds, don’t worry if you miss the goal, Kenzie will get the rebound.” My coach has barked these orders on numerous occasions throughout the year and it has never failed to give me a little thrill inside. As an athlete that tends to go unnoticed, getting acknowledgement in such an offhand way is pretty exciting. It shows me I have a place on the team, a job that my team depends on me to do. Water polo is a very difficult sport. It requires an unparalleled mix of mental and physical strength, and that's just to keep your head above the water! Forest Hills Water Polo has never been the state or regional champion team, we don't even win very often. We don’t care. We

On Saturday, September 9th, I went to the Enabling Aquatics session at the YMCA in Santa Rosa. I went from 10:15 to 12:40.

There’s just something about Mexico that is so captivating. I don’t know whether it's the food or the people or the overall environment. It is not always easy for me to say that, though. Why? Well, I usually go to Mexico once a year to this small village by the name of Bolanos, Jalisco. The nearest, larger city, Guadalajara, Jalisco, is five hours away so as you can imagine or maybe can’t, there’s not much to do. I have family members in Mexico so I obviously want to see them, but I also want to stay in my home with the comfort it provides. I don’t really remember what I use to do in our visits when I was younger, I can vaguely remember what I did in the past three years. This year was different though. On June 6th, my mom, sister, and I took a plane early in the morning to our destination. My mom wanted to take advantage of summer break to be there for a while. When the tickets were first bought and I was told the date of departure; I wasn’t too fond of it. Departure would be two days after finals and all I wanted was to rest.

When I was eight years old, I joined the Shaker Sharks swim team. I was put in the lowest group and struggled to swim even a 25. I considered swimming a hobby at best, not even realizing it was a sport. Two years later, my family and I moved to Solon. I switched teams to join the Solon Stars Swim Club.

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