Survivor Essay Examples

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.

I picked up my speed and drove myself into the wall. Pushing off, I told myself that it was now time to swim backstroke.

Being on my school’s diving team has had its ups and downs but one the biggest setbacks I went through while on the team was my freshman year when I got a concussion. I was doing a simple reverse dive I under rotated enough that when I hit the water, it pushed my head into my knee. I am unsure whether or not I blacked out but all I remembered was climbing out of the pool dizzy and confused. I went to a doctor and found out I had a concussion. Having a concussion was a big setback in itself, but what made it the worst was that the conference meet was coming up in about a week. I had to rest for the remainder of the week and was cleared to practice again the next Monday. Because of the whole situation I felt like quitting all together. I only had three days of practice before the conference meet and had nothing prepared. I did not think it would be possible for me to practice all eleven of my dives that I needed to do at the meet in time. Then I remembered my goal for the season: to earn my varsity letter. I had not achieved my goal yet and the conference meet was my last chance to do so. I was not about to

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 200 freestyle at WPIALS, the championship race for my section in highschool, did not turn out the way I wanted it to do. After practicing for three months I only dropped half a second in my race, finishing at 1:49:56, which is good in shorter races but I know I had more in me. The next week I could not stop thinking about what went wrong in my race. That weekend I swam a meet for my club team and went a 1:46:98, by learning from my failure I was able to get back up and succeed. Now, I know that all my hard work and failures will lead me to any goal that I set for

Once I was there I overheard all the stories about people making their team and how excited they were. Standing in the background, I was too embarrassed to even talk. Eventually I overcame the initial sadness and embarrassment as I remembered the coach's words of advice. I truly did love swimming and I wanted to continue. So I did, with more motivation than ever. In the process I made a commitment to myself, that I would make the team. Later I can to realize not making the team was a blessing in disguise. I moved up to a faster group and train harder than I had before, tremendously improving along the way.

My head was going crazy, I could barely think straight.I was off to a great start. I has stuck all my landings and I just need one more Tumbling pass to go, and if I had stuck it then I would qualify to Nationals. My brain was rushing super fast that it felt like I was off the floor.

For starters, I was embarrassed by the mental image of myself flailing around in the water and for what I perceived as making a mockery of the team I represented. Not only this, but I became livid with myself, for the hardest and fastest I was able to make my body move still was not enough to comply with my personal expectations. The vow I created on the car ride home still stands in effect to this date; to strive to my greatest potential, making the goal universal for every characteristic of my life.

It was a cold October day. The closer I came to the fogged up windows, the faster my heart would beat making my breath quicken. I step into the locker room to prepare for the pool. As soon as I step out the humidity hit me. I’ve been scoping out the competition for a few hours now and they are good. I say to my friend” I sure hope that I don’t have to race against them” . Then my name gets called and what do you know I have to go against a state winner and 6 more excellent swimmers. Suddenly my number gets called.”Swimmer's step up!”.My heart racing. Adrenalin pumping. Me trying to calm down so I can actually go. “ Swimmers ready?”...The whistle blows.

"BEEEEEP!" Turning off the familiar but annoying sound of the alarm, lying in bed until the last possible second, I admit: this is the big day. All those practices and early mornings will be rewarded today. Finally crawling out of bed to get ready for the meet, I grab my goggles, a towel, water, and a quick breakfast on the way out the door. Checking in with the coach before finding the rest of the team as the pool area becomes louder with every passing minute while more and more people arrive at the big event. Sitting and resting, I try to save all my energy for the race. I put my headphones in and turn music on as I try to begin to focus. Talking to friends to try to calm nerves. It is time.

After that night, I was extremely tired and desperately wanted to go to bed. Even though I was tired, I was overly excited to go back tomorrow night! After that practice, and many more it was finally time for our first swim meet. I was participating in the fly stroke and free style stroke.

This was the exchange between my swim coach and I just seconds before I swam my last fifty yard butterfly race of the year, at the biggest swim meet of the summer. With only ten people qualifying for a second swim, I narrowly made the margin with a time of thirty-one and one hundredths of a second, and was seated in last place. I was determined in all of my being to prove the ranks wrong. Not only this, I was also resolved to beat my previous time by three seconds, which is difficult to do in such a short race. Despite the confident air I had assumed when speaking with my coach, my nerves were rather restless. I could feel the butterflies in the pit of my stomach spread to the southernmost tips of my fingertips and toes. My breath was uneven. Contributing to this anxiety, I knew I was not in the best shape. This summer had been one of multiple trips to Grandma’s, filled with many eaten “Chips Ahoy!” cookies. Both my coach and I knew this, but only one of us had low expectations. For some reason, rooted in my competitive nature, it was imperative that I swam a personal best and score major points for the team. Even if it was against all odds, I had to achieve this goal.

“Get up now,” My mom yelled down the hallway. “Hurry or you’ll be late!” My brother and I dreaded waking up early to swim, but we had chosen to commit. Even though I’ve competed every year since first grade, I still struggled. That summer swimming taught me to have stamina, the ability to not quit even though it was hard.

I went it to touch the wall and I saw my friend Ashleigh waiting for me. She gave me a thumbs up. I looked at my mom, she was so happy for me. I looked up at the screen to see what place I got. 5th place! My time was pretty good for my first 200 freestyle at a meet.

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