State Swim Analysis

When I first joined the North Attleboro Swim Team my freshman year of high school, I did not know what to expect. Prior to joining, I had never swam on a team before so it was a whole new experience to me. As the first week of swim started, I was apprehensive if I wanted to continue since I was not on the same caliber as my other teammates were. The practices were brutal but extremely rewarding, as I strived to prove myself and to my coaches. As my freshman season was under way, a couple of upperclassmen took

During the spring of 2015, I missed all of the time cuts to make Speedo Sectionals, forcing me to compete in a much slower meet at the end of the season. There are few things I have experienced that are more crushing than trying my hardest and falling short of my goal. Despite the heavy disappointment, I used the opportunity to harden my resolve and use my strengths to my greatest advantage. Along with my coach’s help, I used my ability to think strategically and hone my technique through focus on the smallest details from how I would approach a swim mentally to how I would warm up. My coach had many important and useful suggestions and lessons from his past experience that required me to be an active learner that could apply his information.

The coach made us run extra harder, which many people did not enjoy. I ran thinking, if I run hard enough, I will run the greatest 2-mile, the distance we have to run in the league finals, I have ever ran. We would run intervals, 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, 4 laps, and vice versa. We would also run up and down stairs and run track laps until we felt like puking. The week passed by fast as we practiced, and the league finals was just up ahead now. The weekend before the meet, wasn’t much, but for most of the weekend, I had butterflies in my stomach multiplying every second the meet got closer. My dad told me not to worry, which I thought was silly, because this was a huge meet. I got a lot of rest sleeping, and finally, the day had come. The day of the cross country league

All the time and hard work spent had to pay off for something. I was also determined to beat my biggest rival on the team. She wouldn't hesitate to smear my face in it if she got a faster time than me. We stepped up to the 200 meter starting line and I tried to push the nervous thoughts out of my head. It felt like butterflies were bouncing off the walls of my stomach. We got into the start position and our coach began counting down from 5. It was only 5 seconds but it felt like an eternity. The four of us took off in unison and I could tell I was going to have to give this race everything I had. There was no way I was going to let the others defeat me. I heard the pounding of my feet against the track as I ran the curve. That's when I realized I was already in front of the rest and I began sprinting with every ounce of energy I had left. There were nearly 100 meters to the finish line and my legs were moving so fast it felt as if I was flying. I kept thinking about how much I had been working towards this and how I would not let myself down. Bolting through the finish line I could tell that was one of the best races I've ever run. My lungs felt heavy, legs aching from exhaustion and my eyes were watering from the frigid wind. As my coach was recording my time on his clipboard he revealed how many seconds faster I had been. Not only had I beaten my own personal best, but I had gotten the fastest sub varsity time.

Everyone at the pool was excited, nervous, and jittery about the upcoming season. August 4th symbolized a new beginning and a new chance to succeed. I knew that day would be the beginning of me working really hard everyday in practice from August until the last weekend of October. So, that is exactly what I did. I worked harder than I ever had in swim for those two months. I would come to practice and focus everyday even when it was hard. I did not only get faster but, I learned some very important life lessons. I learned how to push through when I was exhausted, sore, and discouraged. I worked hard for the regular season meets that we had but, I knew I really was working hard for state

On Thursday I would swim the 100-meter freestyle but the days leading up to then I would be swimming other races. When the day finally came for 100 I was ready, I was so sure I would get the record this time. I stand behind my lane once again. I put my goggles on as the referee blows the whistle and I step up on the block. "Take your mark" I go down and block out everything but the pool in front of me and wait for the buzzer. The buzzer goes off and I dive in, not too deep this time, I kick up to the surface and spin my arms as fast as I could. 50-meter mark I flip and push off the wall as hard as I can. 15 meters left I put my head down and use the last bit of energy I have and reach for the wall. I take my goggles off and look up at the scoreboard, and to my disappointment, I missed the record again, in fact, I didn't even go my personal best and that made me even more

When I was a freshman in high school, one of my good friends asked me if I would like to join the high school swim team. At the time, I was naive and did not do my research to see if I was physically or mentally capable of being on a semi-professional swim team. On the first day of practice, the coach barked at us to get in the water. I was unknowingly launched into 60 degrees and told to swim a “500”. Of course I did not know how to swim a “500”, nor did I know what a “500” was. I barely knew how to swim recreationally without doggy-paddling. I tried to follow the juniors and seniors in front of me. They appeared to be doing the “crawl” or as my coach called it “freestyle”. The hardest part about the way I was swimming was that water got

In 2015 at the OSSAA swimming regionals meet, I went into it not thinking I had any chance at making it to the state level of competition. Once I had swam and placed very well I thought that there was actually a chance in me making it to the next level, which was something I had never seriously considered happening before then. I went all weekend without knowing if I had made it and then Sunday afternoon I found out that I had barely missed making it. This sparked something in me that motivated me to do everything I could to make it the next year, like it was a challenge to myself to make it that very next year. Throughout that next year lots of things changed in my daily life. I started giving all of my effort at every practice. Over the summer

In September 2012 I was registered for my first swim meet. I was apprehensive and felt totally unprepared. I had learnt all the strokes, but had not gained proficiency in any of them. The meet was a complete disaster, and I ended up coming in last. The second swim meet was no better. I thought that over time my improvement would speak for itself, but I was wrong. After a few meets, I was still ranked below division C, and no where close to making it into A division. Although I trained harder and improved in each meet, it was not enough to reach my goal. After another failed meet, my father had a chat with me. In this conversation my father explained to me “Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later

A few events passed, then the announcer’s voice broke through the speaker system saying, “Up next is the 100-yard breaststroke heat one.” I was in heat five, so I had time to prepare. I decided I should get prepped and visualize, so I began to make my way up to lane seven. People buzzed all around, moving swiftly on the pool deck. So many thoughts were running through my head. My stomach was fluttering with nervousness. I had trained so hard this past season. I was worried I would not achieve my goals because I had become so sick towards the end of the season. The early morning wake ups and hours upon hours of practice had taken a devastating a

By this time I had started to go through puberty and became taller which enabled me to swim faster. The morning group was full of dedicated swimmers who were crazy enough to get up every morning to go jump into a pool and practice. Of course I was no different, but during April of that season I had started to lose my motivation. I began to skip practices and gave my parents excuses, which then they told me to take it easy. After two months of periodic practices, I realized that swimming was an activity that I wanted to do and that I loved, and I decided that I would not allow myself to quit, no matter how hard it became. When the new season started, I started to push myself, trying to keep up to the faster swimmers. I became close with my team mates as people who go through pain together get closer. We started to have more fun together from going out, to having funny conversations in the locker rooms. I also began to do travel meets where we would spend a few days together, eating, sleeping, and swimming. I spent more time out of the pool with my friends and even became romantically involved with one. Now, swimming has become one of the most important things to me, it has been the activity that has the most influence on my life. From my work ethic, sleeping habits, to my choice of friends, all of them are tied to

Im standing in line waiting my turn to race. I am at the university of tennessee about to race the 200M freestyle against 50 of the top kids in the entire southeast. I'm nervous but excited I am prepared but worried and I am thinking of everything that could go wrong but I keep my focus. I have to it's too late to go back now. Finally it's my turn I step up on the block and I get ready, the siren sounds I jump of the block into the water I try to remember everything my coach taught me in practice everything that got me to this point. I make the first turn I am in the middle of the pack making sure to pace myself turn 2 into turn 3 I am now headed down the home stretch putting everything I have into this last stretch and it pays off 3rd place and 20th place out of 50.

After the meet started I was shaking so hard thinking about my races, I stood behind the blocks ready to race many races before my own, when it was finally my turn to swim my first race I couldn’t even feel the water

“What is the definition of failure?” I always thought the failure was my destiny, but I never tried to define it from another standpoint. With a deep consideration, I utilized the failure from the first competition to motivate myself to continue my swimming career. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, so I devoted to swimming every day ever since. I strived to reach beyond my limit with strict practices, such as 100 yards freestyle sprint, 200 yards freestyle, 500 yards freestyle. The pain of my exhausted body after the practices didn’t stop me, and it rather encouraged me to continue to break my limit and overcome the fear I still had. Moving forward, my feeling of fear disappeared as I became more skillful and confident. Through swimming,

Since the team consisted of only a few people that actually showed up at the original practice area, self-motivation played a huge role in the individual’s progress. On the first day of practice, I found myself lapsing in the waves, unable to propel my body forward. As time flew by, I saw the constant pattern of the swimmers who swam with clubs were more competitive and faster than those who swam with the JP2 team. Humiliated I strived to reach sectionals. I wanted to stop feeling juxtaposed as a lower class. By watching YouTube videos on technique and swim physics, I began enforcing what I learned into practice. I could not believe how smoothly I could make it to the other side of the pool. The day I had a swim meet, my repeated mantra was, “I can do all things with God who strengthens me”. Accordingly, God does help those that help themselves because that day, I achieved not only one sectional time but