My High School Swimming Career

Over the 12-year span of my swimming career, I faithfully trusted my coaches when they told me competitive swimming would take me places. At six-years-old, I dreamed of competing in the Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal, and seeing my face on the cover of a Wheaties box. However, at six-years-old, I never envisioned the mental and physical roller coaster that would define my future in the sport. I would experience numerous mental blocks and physical plateaus; I would sometimes go months and even years without achieving a best time; and I would win very few races, especially for the amount of effort I put into my nine practices each week. In high school, I grew frustrated, I doubted both my coaches and myself, and I contemplated quitting more times than I can count. But I kept swimming, hoping that each stroke and each lap would lead to the success that I sought to achieve. Then in 2014, undoubtedly the most frustrating year of my swimming career, I realized that swimming was so much more than just an extracurricular activity for me. It had become a lifestyle that streamlined me into the person I am today: dedicated, driven, and loyally interdependent.

Through all of my research, one thing was constant; the single most important thing that a coach can do is build a relationship with their players. When coaches take their time to get to know each and every one of their players, the chances of the athlete respecting and responding to the coach are much greater. Giving the athlete a feeling of belonging, importance, and welcoming will increase their confidence and most likely their level of play as well. In his article, Scales explains how developing positive relationships results in athletes not only with better athletic ability, but also with better emotional control, social skills, and connection to school and community (20). One of the most important characteristics of having a relationship with the athlete is caring for them. Florida Tech swim coach thinks the most important

My name is Alauna Torres and I am a student in the eleventh grade at Inderkum. I work hard to maintain grades in the IB Diploma program and struggle, just as any other student does. Last year, I joined Inderkum’s first swim team in six years. After practicing everyday for two hours, I made a bond with many people on my team. As a team, we couldn 't wait to get out of school, huddle together in the atrium, share food, stories, jokes, and insecurities. We tried to get everyone involved, hoping they wouldn’t feel alone or unimportant. As peers around, our job can’t always be fulfilled if our teachers, staff, and coaches don’t do the same to their students.

When I first joined the North Attleboro Swim Team my freshman year of high school, I did not know what to expect. Prior to joining, I had never swam on a team before so it was a whole new experience to me. As the first week of swim started, I was apprehensive if I wanted to continue since I was not on the same caliber as my other teammates were. The practices were brutal but extremely rewarding, as I strived to prove myself and to my coaches. As my freshman season was under way, a couple of upperclassmen took

Competing in high school athletics was the highlight of my time at Sterling High School, If I could I’d go back and do it all over agin. It allowed me to learn basic life skills, such as time management, self-accountability, leadership, and teamwork. But the most important thing it brought me was a strong support system built up of teammates, coaches, competitors, and officials. My sophomore English teacher once joked that “the girl’s swim team is like a cult” which is pretty close to the truth. From early August to late November twenty girls, a diver or two, and a pair of coaches were inseparable. Together we suffered together through every practice and worked to improve not only ourselves but each other. It was these long hours that shaped

I have had very few coaches that I actually enjoyed having as a coach. Honestly, the coaches are one of the biggest reasons I lost my love for the sport. They are hard on you, tell you that you're not good, pick favorites, make you cry, and not care about how you’re feeling. One thing that really made me hate coaches was last year when my coach picked a headcase underclassmen to go to regionals instead of me, I cried for a long time about it. Without the right teammate and coach support, sports are really awful and not worth

Westfield High School swimmers practiced for one last day on January 6 before the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, which would be the following day hosted by Brownsburg and would also mark less than a month before the team’s most important meets, sectionals and state, begin.

The journey of competitive swimming started at the age of eight for my local `neighborhood team. I exhibited great potential for the future, for I won nearly all my races. This seemed like the sport

I had four different swim coaches growing up and two of them were significantly influential in demonstrating how I wanted to be as a person and leader. From the age of five and until sixth grade, I did not have much of a connection or relationship with my coaches. It was more of a swim program that was held after school with some year round competitions. Once I entered Junior High School, swimming became more serious. I ended up trying out and making the year round national competition team. I swam for Mission San Jose Aquatics until the end of summer in 2006. My coach’s name was Debbie Potts. Debbie Potts was someone that everyone respected. She earned her respect by how she treated others with respect and with being a very supportive person. My relationship with her was good and I spent a lot of time with her since I was one of her top swimmers. During the summers I would work for her, helping her managed aspects of the team’s paper work, in addition to helping her with her business in vending swimming apparel and gear. Not only did I get

There is a quote by Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a process, working together is a success”. As a newcomer athlete on the Aquahawgs Swim Club, I was very cautious and weary of my behavior on the first day. Show up, do the practice, keep quiet, and go home. This mindset got me through the first 3 months and were by far the worst months of my entire athletic career. I was isolated, forced to create my own motivation and be my own critic. I hated the sport. For some reason that I still wonder about, I stayed, but enthusiasm was not present. I truly believed that I was a liability to the team because of my lack of performance in meets. That was truly my dark time. My saving light came in the form of 4, awkward,

My life was changed this summer after my winter swim team received unexpected news. We were told that we would no longer be able to practice at the same pool as before, leaving all of the swimmers without a place to practice. Unfortunately, this meant that my team, the Tiger Sharks, would no longer exist. I was devastated and now forced to bring myself upon a new team with unfamiliar faces. On my new team the head coach, Coach Bill, was able to assist me in making this transition easier and he was also exceptionally inviting to me and the other new swimmers. His unique training allowed me to immensely improve my swimming.

First, a coach is a mentor every single player should look up too. They teach one the way to success and motivate a person to become the best they can possibly be. Once in awhile, players do get mad at the way the coach does things;like, playing time, the plays they run, or even what they say to a player. Most of the time, the coach’s best interest is to inspire one to achieve in life not just the

Sometimes I find myself wondering why I put in so much effort for this sport. But, then I remember what motivates me most to continue swimming everyday. I love the sport. I love to swim. It has been a part of my life for so long, and I have no idea what I would be doing without it. During the one week in December that I was out of the pool, I realized this fact the most. The girls I get to swim with during high school season are my best friends. And they all motivate me to work harder every single day. Personal goals push me along with team goals. The amazing opportunities and memories this sport has given me are incredible, and that motivates me to reach the next level of swimming. The swimming program is very difficult, and often times my body gets so exhausted that I cannot imagine swimming another lap. But the happiness I feel after every practice, my teammates that are always there to support me, my amazing coaches, and the family like feeling that both my high school team and club team have created makes swimming so fun. This motivates me to never give up on the sport that I have always

I have been swimming since I was six years old. I have gone to practice after practice after practice for the past eleven years. At first, I was on the club team. Then, in 7th grade I could try out for the Oxford High School team and I made it. I loved high school season the most. I loved swimming with the older kids and I loved the feeling of being on a team. Then, with what seemed like a blink of the eye, I was the older kid. I was entering my second to last season and my junior year of high school. I was the captain and the younger kids looked up to me.

At Emory, I feel that I could most accurately be described as a student-athlete. Academic success takes priority while I’m at Emory, but swimming is a close second. Spending hours daily in the pool, I have become a part of a tight-knit collection of academically and athletically prosperous students. Struggling through difficult sets and disappointing races together makes celebrating success even sweeter. We lean on each other for strength when we feel as if we don’t have enough individually. This team is comprised of caring individuals who work together to make the whole better than the individuals. From this community I have become a better team player and now I can add to the uplifting environment by drawing upon some of my innate qualities that make me a good teammate: I am supportive, dedicated, patient, kind, and hardworking. One of the unique characteristics of the swim team is that we don’t only work on creating a great community within the team, but we try to spread that excitement and desire for success to other communities. The swim team makes great contributions the Emory community by hosting Special Olympics every week at our pool and making appearances at many events such as sporting events and freshman move