Personal Narrative: Moving Back To The Pool

It was sometime around 6:00 p.m. on a Thursday night in the middle of January 2016. There was a swim meet going on and it was just about to start. The teams were warming up and getting ready for the meet that was due to start in the coming hour. I was warmed up and concentrating on the race listening to music in my newly acquired platinum studio beats. The music was loud and the nerves were setting as I walked into the locker room with my friend and teammate. As we passed I said good luck to our teammate who I was racing against in the 200 free style. Then out of know were he pulled my friend to the side and whispered something in his ear. I didn’t hear what was said as I had continued to walk. My friend came over to me and I asked what he had said and he told me. He told me

“Get up now,” My mom yelled down the hallway. “Hurry or you’ll be late!” My brother and I dreaded waking up early to swim, but we had chosen to commit. Even though I’ve competed every year since first grade, I still struggled. That summer swimming taught me to have stamina, the ability to not quit even though it was hard.

For five years I have been playing softball. Just last year I was apart of a travel team. We had a great team and worked very well together. We went to multiple tournaments and put our best foot forward no matter what the circumstances were. I have never played with a better group of girls who love the game as much as I did.

For a majority of people in the world, if they were to wake up with 350 million dollars, and would be able to be fully retired by 38 years old, then they would be very content and happy with their lives. Being able to wake up every day in a big mansion, lying with your family by the poolside, not worrying about financial issues for yourself or loved ones, and lastly having the great opportunity for you and your whole family, to not work a day the rest of your lives. It is an ideal situation that approximately 99.99% of people would want. But, an outlier, challenges those astonishing odds, by using their influence and popularity, to help out and make a difference. Not

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.

“Eliana, stop swimming so close to the wall!” My high school swim coach would yell, at least once every practice. While being a successful high school swimmer and trying to maintain my high GPA, I have faced many obstacles. Some of them being physical barriers, like injuries, due to too much swimming, or struggles with too much AP homework, but I never expected the biggest obstacle in my high school swimming career to be the one in my head.

At the ripe age of 18, it was my last year swimming. Sadly, it was also my first. The idea to start swimming came from my boyfriend, who had been doing it his whole life. He thought it would allow us to have more quality time together. Even though I started swimming to spend time with him, I grew to really enjoy the sport and I wanted to get better and better each time I hit the water. I ended up getting really good really quickly because the sport came so natural to me. Although it was my first year, I was already competing in the City Meet, and I wanted to do my best because I knew that it would be my last chance to race.

As long as I can remember, I have always felt passionate about swimming. Whether I’m playing around, going to swim practice, or racing at a big swim meet, I’m always at the pool. Since I spent so much time around the water, becoming a lifeguard looked like the obvious job choice for me. After about a year of guarding, my supervisor asked me if I would be interested in starting to teach swim lessons. I was apprehensive at the thought of it, because I hadn’t worked with kids much before. It sounded like a cool opportunity though, so nervously I agreed.

This summer we got a slide for our pool. We have a pool at our house and we wanted something to add to it because it was getting kind of boring. My sibling and I, had been begging my parent for months to get a slide for the pool, and they finally agreed!

I am a swimmer with determination I wonder if I will ever make it to the end I hear the water splashing around me I see the line on the bottom that leads to the wall I want to be the one that finishes first I am a swimmer with determination I pretend that I am in the olympics swimming for my country I feel the pressure of trying to win to get the golf

I’ve grown up in Skyline, a small elderly community within the town of Anacortes my entire life. I have never changed houses, and have seen the same views and had the same experiences. Race and ethnicity hasn’t been strongly impactful on me growing up in my small predominantly white town. Yet, it has taught me to appreciate the small distinct communities in my life, that have defined me.

Zachary, I like the idea of swimming as a way to release stress. I enjoy swimming, I don't do it often, but when I do it, I feel relaxed. I think I will practice this more often. The only problem here in Reno is that we only get three months of summer, but I guess if I go to the gym I can swim there. Thank you for the suggestion.

Most of my stories in life are related to the game of pool as I spend a good amount of time playing the game. This particular story starts a few months ago. At the time I was on a role and I felt like I couldn’t miss. Every single shot I attempted was just going in. It wasn’t just like I was doing the same shot over and over again, I was making power shots, finesse shots and bank shots. It was just amazing how I was doing.

13 years. It has been 13 years since I first plunged into the pool to begin my first lesson. I was small, skinny, and shy at the time, not willing to talk to people. I had tried other sports; baseball, soccer, basketball, but I found those to difficult. My dad first brought me to a pool, to splash around in the play area. But I soon found myself wanting to go the deeper parts where the whirlpool and the lazy river were. So I began group lessons on the basics on how to swim, most of the other participants were older than me so I did not make conversation with them. After I finished a couple of lessons and learned how to swim the most basic two strokes; freestyle and breaststroke, I joined a summer team, the Bradley Farm Wave. I was not very