Personal Narrative: Riding A Pool

Have you ever had something so scary you just stayed there frozen, while this is the story of that happening to me. #Its starts with me being super happy about snorkeling in the line waiting with my family and other people at Disney World. The people in front of us were talking about stuff, but at first I wasn’t listening.

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,

I am a piece of clay, just as every person is. We are not just any kind of clay, though, we’re that special molding clay that never dries out. Because of this, we are constantly molded by almost everyone and everything surrounding our lives. At the beginning of life, we are molded by the hands of loving parents, but once we leave that safe-place, we are on our own. At that point, we can be tossed, slammed, poked at, and sometimes even ripped apart. One important event in my life that molded me and has helped make me the person I am today was my first roller coaster ride. Amusement rides don’t usually change a person’s life, but the first time I went on a roller coaster, I found myself stepping off the ride as an entirely different person. Most people conquer their fear of heights or fast-moving vehicles on thrill rides, but instead, I conquered the one thing most people are terrified to face. Something that’s more horrific than monsters and demons, and that is yourself. For me, the ride was more of a journey than anything. From the beginning to the end, I learned a

Halfway to the water I started screaming. Why was I jumping off the high dive when I could not swim. When I hit the water I realized that my uncle Bobby was going to grab me when i hit the water.

It's just another painstaking day at the gym, a conglomeration of the din of exertion to the satisfying reverberation of metal clanging against metal. Striding confidently around the facility, it is effortless to ignore commiseration for the body, for clearly this must wait until the cycle is done. Reaped from all the interminable hours are of course substantial gains, and for this reason the cycle must change in order to maintain an impeccable physique. Accomplishing this goal is intrinsic enough, the system of exercises must be manipulated sporadically so as to avoid slipping into a constant routine of simplicity. Many variables are far from that manageable to govern. Too often people find themselves hopelessly adrift on whatever cycle life

I felt as if my stomach was jabbed by punches, every time a new swim event went through the list in the meet. My legs were shaking as if an earthquake was arising. I was prepared to be destroyed and laughed at by the opposing team, and given a disgraceful look by my coaches. I always pictured myself as an outsider that didn’t belong on my high school swim team. After all, I was nowhere as good as the majority of the swimmers on my team, as I have only recently picked up the proper swimming techniques.

I began swimming when I was eight years old. My mother wanted to make sure my siblings and I knew how to swim so she signed us up for lessons at the YMCA. After a few lessons, my instructor informed us that he was the head coach at a swim club and would love for us to join. My sister and I joined the club and swam there for a year or two. It became evident that both of us had a natural talent for swimming and my parents looked into a more competitive team. We joined the Southern Michigan Aquatics Club (SMAC) shortly after.

It was an exciting, sunny spring day, when my fifth grade teacher, Miss Owen told the class that we had an assignment to build roller coasters.We were going to start in science, but it was at the end of the day! Miss Owen announced when students from Miss Owens class walked in that we were going to build roller coasters in science.Everyone thought that the end of the day was going to be the best part of the day. Everyone was so anxious to start and no one could wait.

“AAAAHHHH! STOP THE RIDE! WHEN DO WE GET OFF?HELP!”Hold on let’s back it up let’s start this all from the beginning.This all happened in the summer of 2015 those were the days.

I walked into the natatorium for the first time. It was the spring of my freshman year, and I wanted to join a sport. I’ve never considered myself much of an athlete; but I thought it could be fun to try something new: water polo. I had no clue what I was walking into; who’s even heard of water polo anyway. The entire swim team, I soon figured out. It turned out; I was the only one who hadn’t played polo before, and the only one not on the swim team. It felt as if I was leaping headfirst into something I knew nothing about.

One day, my auntie, my cousin and i went to Disney world. We saw a roller coaster and wanted to try it out for my first roller coaster. Turns out this roller coaster was way too extreme to be my first .There was a really long line, we waited for about an hour. When we got to the fence of the roller coaster and I saw how fast it went I asked can I go back my auntie simply responded with “we waited too long to go back now.”

In my childhood, my participation in the swim team was actually the closest I got to seriously engaging in a sport. When I was about eight years old, I was one of dozens of scrawny kids lined up to swim for the coaches to try out for the team. Even though my backstroke took me in a diagonal across the entire pool, I made the team. As much as I had hated any activity that I quit prior to swimming, I hated swimming more. With my mom’s coercion, I managed 5 years (one of which I gleefully sat out due to a fractured wrist).

All of a sudden it hits me and sucks me into the deep water. It is throwing me around vigorously. My chest is starting to hurt and I can’t breathe. I thought This is the end of me. As I begin to gasp for air and air sounds better every second I think about it. The water becomes shallow and I can finally breathe from the harsh water. I begin gasping really hard for the amazing air and I think to myself I am actually alive! I feel a cold hand grab me by the arm and pull me out of the water. It was my mother she begins to worry and start asking me questions. She carries me back to the hotel and sets me down onto the hotel bed. Hands me my clothes and I begin to dress again and she keeps on apologizing for not being able to grab me.

My path with swimming was littered with many triumphs and extremely dramatic failures. The summer of 2014 had been one of the most spectacular defeats for me by losing a championship by 0.01. As I set myself up for the next summer of 2015, I didn’t want to focus on anything except not making a fool of myself in front of hundreds of people.

One day, my mom decided to have me take swimming lessons at the public pool. I had the idea, as many preteens do, swim lessons were just for babies. I expected I’d be stuck with a group of tiny young toddlers that didn’t know a thing when it came to swimming. I thought they would not even have a clue how to do a simple doggy paddle; plus, in my mind, I was a perfectly fine swimmer.