Personal Narrative: What I Learned At The Public Pool

When I was five years old, I joined the Carroll Aquatic Swim Team. I stuck with it because I loved being underwater, feeling the refreshing water all over and the sensation of touching the wall, finishing first hearing the people holler. When I got older I just didn’t have much care for it. So, I decided that I wanted to give up. Then, my mom told me that I should finish the season than I could determine, nevertheless, I did as I was told. At my last meet, my mom signed me up to swim the IM which is when you swim all four strokes. I was convinced that I couldn’t do it because I had never done it before. I told my mom that I couldn’t and I would fail, but my friend convinced me that I should do it. She told me that I would only disappoint people if I gave up; consequently, I swam and received first place. In conclusion, I ended up feeling the same exciting feeling as when I was five.

Swim lessons run for seven weeks at time, each lesson no longer than forty-five minutes. Teaching lessons every day except Sunday, I connect with over fifty students. I go into work, sit in the office, plan the swim lessons, and get ready to greet the students. No matter how bad the day has been, walking out of the office with a smile is most important. I hop in the water and truly try to make every child feel special. The goal is to make everyone smile. Some may only be able to look forward to swim lessons. At the end of the class, they sit upon the wall and share one thing they enjoyed and did not enjoy. This

My parents tell me that I took to swimming like... a fish takes to water. It is a safe place where I can float free of worries. Driven by passion and dedication, I decided to begin swimming competitively. Competitive swimming requires an intense level of determination and discipline. Forcing myself to get out of my warm bed at 5:30 in the morning to put on a still-slightly-damp swimsuit and stand in 40-degree weather waiting for practice to start. Putting up with limited lane space and irritating swimmers who think they are faster. Making a conscious effort to work on my stroke form, turns, touches, and techniques. The water becomes a whirlpool of injuries, losses, wins, friendships, enemies, and sickness. The water becomes home.

Applying the concepts of inclusion and equity as a learn to swim instructor means recognising inequalities and differences in swimming ability, and modifying teaching methods or the environment to

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

To volunteer in the adapted aquatics class (on Saturdays from 11 am to noon) at Reston Community Center you have to be 13 or older. Fortunately the first class was on September 17, one day after my 13th birthday. After the first class I have volunteered three other times: September 24, October 8, and October 15. The first swimmer I worked with is a fellow Langston Hughes Middle School student, Sammy. He was very hesitant to get in the water at first but once Sammy gets in with his life vest and starts swimming around he is in the zone. Sammy’s goal is to blow bubbles more consistently. The way that we keep him motivated is he throws a rubber duck (Sammy plays adapted baseball so his throwing skills are very good) and than swims after it. One emotion I felt while volunteering that I wasn’t expecting was embarrassment. Most of the kids in the class use barbels, lifejackets, and other equipment I hadn’t used in years. I don’t always know if I was doing the right thing and communicating with someone who can’t say anything back can be really difficult. I felt like the parents and even kids in the regular swim classes were judging me, thinking “Is she disabled too?” I wish that society didn’t look down on those with special needs, but unfortunately that isn’t the way the world works. Confirming that I did volunteer on the dates listed above there is a screenshot of an email from the Aquatics Director at

Honestly ever since I was two years old I have been in water, and learned how to swim at around three. I had not learned anything about swimming in Wheeling High School and I can prove that I did not benefit from the swimming sessions. I had already known survival techniques such as not panicking in water and floating on my back to save energy. I already had common sense of not using drugs because I could drown. I had known that many college students go to Lake Michigan at night and die because they can't see or are drunk. To be honest I knew all of these rules but feel maybe Wheeling high school had re-emphasized all of them. I will try to use these techniques at my pool in Florida and continue to teach others how to swim.

When I was little, my grandfather taught me how to swim. I remember the time we were

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 deep end of a pool so that their natural instinct of swimming is awakened. I was not the case. My mother pushed me to the water and amazingly enough I did not panic. Instead of panicking, I accepted my fate and sunk down. After about 30 seconds in my cousin dove in a took me out. Once out of the water, I began to panic. Consequently, I began crying, shaking and screaming at my mother for throwing me into the pool. Shortly after that my mother placed me in swimming classes and everything changed.

I have been playing at least one sport since I was in preschool which is why when I hit the fifth grade my knees started hurting. I was over using my knees and going through a growth spurt. During that time, one of my babysitters, Rachel, was on the Santa Teresa High School Womens Water Polo team and would tell me all these crazy stories about the games she would play. I would be going to the same high school that she did so she made me super excited about trying out for the polo team that she was playing for. She gave me one really good tip of advice. She told me that if I wanted to be a really good water polo player than I needed to be a great swimmer. Within the next couple of months I joined a huge club swim team where I was by far the

I began when I was about seven years old when I tried out for my city’s recreational team. At first, I did not make the team, as I had not mastered the art of staying on top of the water, and I would have been a liability to the coaches and lifeguards; however, I persevered. I spent most of that year trying my best in swimming lessons, and eventually, I was able to stay afloat. Although my swimming technique resembled that of a shark attack victim fighting his way out of the water, the coaches in my recreational swim team saw potential in me and gave me a spot on the team. From then on, I moved to my city’s club team and climbed up the progressive ladder that is swimming. Today, because I followed my interest in swimming so persistently, I am blessed to be able to represent my school on its varsity swimming team and go far beyond my limit in my

At my very first swimming lesson it was scary being thrown into something that was so unfamiliar! But despite my fear, I swam across the entire pool all on my own and I was actually pretty good. I was encouraged by great Y staff to keep swimming, and shortly thereafter, I ended up joining the Y’s swim team.

The pool was cold and I was breathing heavy. I felt like every muscle in my body was going to explode. I was swimming the last lap of the 500,and I couldn't feel my body. The black line at the bottom of the pool taunting me, since I have been staring at it for 19 laps. I only had one more lap to go, and I didn't know if I would make it. Through my tinted goggles I could see my teammates in black and orange suits jumping in the air cheering. My coach hands were moving,so fast and he was cheering so loud. I was finally approaching the yellow and blue flags. In my head I just kept telling myself ”You can do this, you can do this.”

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

This made my body less buoyant and my speed somewhat slow. There were two sixteen year old girls in the lanes on either side of me who swam with the agility of dolphins. These girls and everyone else beat me to the finish, which did not help my nineteen-year-old ego. I wanted to crawl away and hide but was determined not to let myself be outdone.