Personal Narrative: 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

Once I was afraid of bodies of water since I did not know how to swim, now I am in love with any activity that has to do with water. I was raised in the Dominican Republic, a caribbean island, where it is customary to throw one’s child in the

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,

Maria woke up and thought to herself, I need a change. Something adventurous. Maybe I’ll go to that strange lake I saw. It sure is hot today. And I think I deserve the rest since papa made me work so hard yesterday. With that in mind, she slipped on the worn ruffle dress her sister had passed on to her three years ago. Maria missed her sister, Margarita. Margarita had died many many years ago, at the young age of nine. Seeing that Maria possessed a petite figure, and that Margarita was abnormally tall, Margarita gave the young Maria the dress as a birthday gift. The story goes, Margarita and three toddlers named Juan, José, and Alejandro were playing in the dirt when their mother came up to them and yanked them as hard as she could. You see, her husband had been gone for longer and longer trips out west at a time, and only came back

Fish in a Fishbowl Before I started going to SOTA, I had been homeschooled for the past X years. And when I transferred from homeschooling to high school, it was like traveling to a different country. During the early months of my freshman year, I felt like everyone around me was speaking a different language and sadly I didn’t have google translate. I was unsure about how to appeal to the seemingly endless crowds of unfamiliar teachers, students, and social customs. This, as I have discovered is unfortunately not just a high school thing. Even when you have survived freshman year and have some vague sense of who you are and how to be your most authentic self, one can still face the common feeling of being out of place in your current environment.

The Memorial pool. Memorial pool smell the chlorine lots of yelling. Life guards lots of steam lots of heat. I smell the chlorine right when I enter the. Memorial pool and feel the heat and see the steam. As I get out of the locker room I can already hear

One day last summer me and my family went to the pool in iowa falls. It was me my brother Dakota my sisters Aubrey and Brooklynn my step mom and my dad. I went to jump off the diving board. I did a few diffrent things including a backflip,dive and a couple of front flips.

No negotiations. Drowning. Over and over and over again. Every time I died they would bring me back. Every time I came back I was less myself. I was terrified. Not for myself but for my country. Not for myself but for my family. Attacks on my soil day and night and my family could be next. They want what I have. My information. But I won’t crack. Under these bring lights day and night. A cloth is draped over my face again. Water gushes into my mouth as I struggle for breath filling my lungs choking the breath from my body. I can’t breathe. I can’t sleep. They don’t allow me to eat. They try to twist and break my body with poisons and malnourishment. They tell me no one is coming for me. Good. We don’t negotiate with terrorists.

The creek is a place were I can release all of my problems with the world. I can sit down and really think. Not having to worry about the time or if I am getting all of my assignments done. The creek is my place for thinking

My head slowly angled down at the murky brown water reflecting the bright sun as It flowed downstream. “Come on you pussy”, I heard from below. From then on, and for these three words, my fate would be decided, On that day about four years ago, i would know what fear feels like, and how confidence can change your life.

I didn’t learn how to read until 2ed grade.Beacuse parents divorced my dad would take me to school some days and my mom would take me others. Little did I know my mom would drink and get high after I went to bed at night. In the morning she would sleep in with a hangover so I got dressed and ready on my own. She would not wake till 11:00 so I would play dolls and watch cartoons all morning. Because of this, I missed about 30% of grades K-3. In 3ed grade me and my dad and stepmom learned of my moms addiction. I stopped seeing my mom for a long time. During that time I discovered the joy of reading. I started later than the others so I ended up at a low reading level but once I learned to read, well, I never stopped.Stories are

The water splashed as I entered the freezing pool of water. I swam to the other end, flipped underwater, and pushed off the wall. The flow of the water against my skin felt as if I was breaking through a bubble of air. The movement of my arms and legs led me all the way to the wall at the other end. This was my passion. It was what I loved to do at the time. Previously, I was on a club swim team, all the way up until school season. I was anxious all day waiting to get back into that pool.

Rolling with the Tide Have you ever been so desperate for something that you modify your motive in its entirety? Throughout my life I’ve found myself placed in this frightening situation multiple times; the most confusing of which would be what I’ve endured this year. People in their 20s have it

I am the most competitive person you will ever meet. I hate to lose. In everything I do, from swim meets, to track meets, to academic competitions, my goal and my intent is to win. I want to win! Though I don’t necessarily have the great ability to perform like

There are only two options in the ocean: sink or swim. America operates the same way - either you make it or you don’t. 6 years ago my family was introduced to the foster care system and I met my sisters. We were warned how “troublesome” girls could be and their behaviors, medication why they were being placed into our home. It seems as if all their lives they received the short even of the stick but not when it came to living with us. We didn’t want them to drown in the system.