Personal Narrative On High School Swim

Imagine taking one step into a chlorine-filled arena. The humid air rushes onto your skin. An immense smile spreads across your face. This is because you know everything is about to change. In less than 24 hours you will be holding a glistening gold medal in your hand, standing up on the podium while the Star Spangled Banner blares for the whole world to hear and tears will stream down your face. Taking one look back at your coach, Teri McKeever, you realize if it wasn’t for her you would not be here. Graciously, you run up, swing your arms around her body, and embrace her in a powerful hug that says it all. Swimming is a very intense sport and consumes every second of a swimmer’s free time. However, putting in hundreds

I woke up nauseous, too sick to eat. The whole drive there I was praying it would be cancelled. The fear consumed me; I couldn’t move. I just wanted to be home in my warm, comfy bed, instead I was diving into an ice cold pool. After warm-up my coach gave me a pep talk, but I was too nervous to listen. Sometimes I got so nervous I’d throw up, right before my event. To this day I still don’t understand why I got so anxious at swim meets. For the past several years, I have had a love hate relationship with swimming. I always struggled with swimming, and many times I wanted to quit. The time commitment and the physical requirements have always been a little too much for my mind to handle and it all comes to a crescendo when it is time to compete. I often wondered why I continued to put

The frosty morning breeze snaps at your ears and nose as you step away from the warm aroma of the bus, so you rush inside to the sports center. As you scurry in, you are stopped abruptly, meeting a large crowd of strangers gathered in the main entrance. There is barely room to squeeze past anyone, as every swimmer in New York who qualified for States, was in this one building. You finally find your way to the pool. After walking past several team banners, you finally see the banner labelled “Auburn Stingrays” and you spot your mom and dad off to the side, setting up a blanket for you to sit on. You toss your bag down and hug your parents for a final good luck before the meet. After you part from the hug, your hair is tousled by you dad, and they turn to go find a good seat before it gets filled up. “Ten minutes until warm up!” shouts the head coach of the team. You realize that you haven’t even had time to put on your swimsuit yet. You zip open your bag and grab your sleek swimsuit with a blue swizzle to resemble a stingray tail and run to the locker room to get

During this positivity mission, one of the most memorable moments occurred at the Niagara LSC Championships. A few newer faces joined us this year, which was a perfect opportunity to get to know some of the swimmers in other levels. Following one of the new swimmer’s races, I turned to him on the bench and complimented his excellent race. I will never forget the smile looking back at me when he asked in disbelief, “You know my name and you watched me?”. My answer was simple, “Of course, you are my teammate”.

“Hey,” I said, sitting up and touching her ankle to remind her of the anklet. “We will always be together no matter where we end up.”

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.

CE: Well coach, you had your bye week last week. Did you use that as an opportunity to relax or did you use it to push the kids harder, knowing they wouldn't have to compete for a while?

People need self-motivation to succeed because not every problem can be solved by others, some have to be solved by oneself. When conflicts arise, individuals need to seek out the path of best fit to conquer the issue at hand. Throughout my entire childhood, I aspired to be a great swimmer. When I was a young adolescent, my favorite sport to watch during the Olympics was swimming. How could someone move so fast through the water? The extremely close races and extraordinary comebacks always excited me. I wanted experience the thrill for myself.

But the boys fronted with a positive attitude and were ready to take on the numerous national level swimmers they were put up against. This was really displayed when the boys competed above themselves in every event they were placed in and really made both myself and Mr Taylor proud with their endeavours despite the odds placed against them. The Geelong College placed 9th defeating Carey Grammar which was a terrific effort and display of the dedication and perseverance that was put in by the boys over the entire season. I’d like to thank Mr Taylor for coordinating the boys swimming this season and making the season happen. Also I’d like to thank Miss Smith, Miss Cleary, Miss Henning and Miss Oates for their massive contributions to both timing and recording our results throughout the

To the coaches that I never had the opportunity to work with, I see how much the younger kids adore and respect you and that is very special. You all have done a fantastic job in creating the next generation of Empire senior swimmers. I’m sure you all would have been great coaches to have.

The piercing blare of the buzzer penetrated deep within their ears, and with a flash of light, the swimmers dove off their blocks. “The first thing that goes through my head when I dive into the water is to keep pushing myself to the best of my ability,” explained senior D.J. Beebe. “Even if I don't come in first place, I’ll know that I tried my hardest,” added Beebe. The swimmers combined their love for the sport, with each of their talents to create a dominating team. These boys not only used tremendous amounts of physical strength, but mental strength as well. “I keep myself mentally focused by counting each length I swim,” described junior Jarod Morse. “Counting the lengths helps me stay calm, and focused on winning.” It is clear this

Shanks' eyes softened. "We're gonna miss you, too, kid. But I'm glad you finally found an island and friends you care enough about to want to stay. Look after Luffy, yeah? And no more fights with bandits until you two get strong enough to show them who's boss."

“On your mark… Set… *BUZZ*.” One last breath of brisk air filled my lungs and the next second my cold body was submerged in the comforting warm water. Suddenly, the water was no longer aquamarine, but a greenish blurry hue. I wanted to stay at the bottom of the pool. After breaking the surface of the water my arms became like propellers on a boat. Going and going. This meet would secure my spot on varsity, proving that the tears due to aching muscle, the buckets of sweat, the late nights doing homework because of the longer days in the pool would be worth everything. Because it was everything. Ending this meet badly was not an option. A flip turn was essential, but that was troublesome due to the blue tinted goggles slipping from my cap during the dive. But I went for it. Arms at my side, knees and head tucked. I flipped and went to kick off the wall, but felt nothing. Instantly disqualified.

It’s 9:00 o’clock p.m on a monday night that I find myself standing over the side of an indoor pool wondering why I am about to jump in into the chilling water. But I do it anyway because I love it. Even though it has been a struggle at times to balance becoming a great swimmer and having great academics as well and at times I had felt I had to let one go to keep another great, I have overcome.

My freshmen year swim season gave me an experience I’ll never forget. It was in the middle of the season, we were swimming against Sauk Centre, a team we usually had close meets with. My goal for the year was to make it to sections in the 100 fly, and I was close. I had been consistently dropping time getting closer and closer to 1:18.00. This meet was the most disappointing meet of the year for me.