Swimming Monologue

Apart from the entertainment and joy doing them, they are imperative to my physical health. These sports have made me develop many friends and learn about different cultures. I was a member of a swimming club in my former school; here we travelled many places for competitions. During these competitions, I would try to make as many friends as possible. My choice of friends was always different races from mine, which made it a thrilling experience. I am a social and outgoing person, who always likes to learn about other people. Even though I have earned several titles as an individual in swimming, what I enjoyed most about these sports is the fact that I could meet people from different cultures around the world. Learning about these cultures also played a great role in making me study

I swam on a year round swim team for eight years. I absolutely loved it. But, in tenth grade I moved to the highest level group on my team so we practiced before and after school. I would wake up at four in the morning, go to practice, go to school, go back to practice, and then arrive home at six in the evening. I then had to eat dinner, finish homework, and work on orders. With the volume of orders I was receiving, I did not have enough time to make the orders in a time frame that was fair to my customers. My business was more important to me, so I had to stop swimming. I still, however, teach swim lessons on the weekend and am still on the varsity swim team at my school. During the summer, I am also the head coach of a neighborhood swim team with seventy kids.

Competing in high school athletics was the highlight of my time at Sterling High School, If I could I’d go back and do it all over agin. It allowed me to learn basic life skills, such as time management, self-accountability, leadership, and teamwork. But the most important thing it brought me was a strong support system built up of teammates, coaches, competitors, and officials. My sophomore English teacher once joked that “the girl’s swim team is like a cult” which is pretty close to the truth. From early August to late November twenty girls, a diver or two, and a pair of coaches were inseparable. Together we suffered together through every practice and worked to improve not only ourselves but each other. It was these long hours that shaped

Stout bathers in baggy swimsuits tiptoe into the sea then launch themselves into the waves. A ship hovers on the horizon, hardly seeming to move, spectral against the whitewashed sky. Everything looks too real, too sharply defined and the colours are too bright, as if I’m seeing them after waking from a fever. The man who’d found my clothes is standing with his back to me, watching the swimmers.

I thought to myself “What if I’m not good enough? What if I dislike it as much as I remember? What will the Lyman Hall kids be like?” These worries only lasted until I opened the front door of the school, because I was greeted by many familiar faces. I shook hands with the captains, Victor Jacome and Robbie Driscoll, whom I had known from my previous swim team. The first practice was very difficult; in years past, I would have considered it to be very mild and easy, but I hadn’t tried to swim in a competitive manner in a very long time, and even after a couple laps, every muscle in my body ached. This was a very foreign feeling to me because I hadn’t felt this way since I first started swimming when I was 10 years old. At the peak of my conditioning when I was around 14 years old, I could swim a full mile, or 66 laps at a competitive pace, without stopping, and I would feel fine. However, like riding a bike, there is muscle memory involved, and after a few more practices swimming started to feel more like I remembered it. Despite this, some things still felt different; I changed a lot in 2 years: I grew from around 5’8 to 6’1 and went from very scrawny to somewhat a normal amount of muscle. These physical changes were beneficial to my swimming of course, and I felt myself traveling farther in the water with each stroke, therefore being more efficient. When swimming

A large number of swimmers don’t like it, whether that be because of the sheer difficulty, or because swimming makes them anxious, or because they’ve simply been swimming for so long that they are no longer entertained. The last option is the one that seems to hold true for most club swimmers who no longer find joy in the sport, the ones who have been doing it for five, eight, even eleven years. Those are the people who are simply tired of it. I, on the other hand, love swimming and the feeling of gliding though the water. People will tell you that no one, in any sport, really enjoys practices, but I can honestly tell you that I do. For at least the last five months I have looked forward to swim practice everyday. If nothing else, I know that I have an outlet for my anger, frustration, or any other emotion that I may have. At best, I know that I have a group of friends who are all working to achieve the same goal as I am and that I can always lean on them for support and they can always lean on me, if need be. The feeling of swimming a good race is one of the best feelings in the world. When you can tell that you're just flying through the water and you have everyone’s attention and you know that you're better than you were the last time you raced, better than you were yesterday. I guess maybe that’s the thing I like about practice, that everyday I’m

At Emory, I feel that I could most accurately be described as a student-athlete. Academic success takes priority while I’m at Emory, but swimming is a close second. Spending hours daily in the pool, I have become a part of a tight-knit collection of academically and athletically prosperous students. Struggling through difficult sets and disappointing races together makes celebrating success even sweeter. We lean on each other for strength when we feel as if we don’t have enough individually. This team is comprised of caring individuals who work together to make the whole better than the individuals. From this community I have become a better team player and now I can add to the uplifting environment by drawing upon some of my innate qualities that make me a good teammate: I am supportive, dedicated, patient, kind, and hardworking. One of the unique characteristics of the swim team is that we don’t only work on creating a great community within the team, but we try to spread that excitement and desire for success to other communities. The swim team makes great contributions the Emory community by hosting Special Olympics every week at our pool and making appearances at many events such as sporting events and freshman move

Glass trickles onto the pavement, the flow of force bending wheels and body. My own body appears to be floating away, feel like I am sinking down into the pavement. I scream, a muffled scream, but even to me this plea for help seems distant. I am helpless, drifting away, perhaps I am drowning?

"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.

Sometimes I find myself wondering why I put in so much effort for this sport. But, then I remember what motivates me most to continue swimming everyday. I love the sport. I love to swim. It has been a part of my life for so long, and I have no idea what I would be doing without it. During the one week in December that I was out of the pool, I realized this fact the most. The girls I get to swim with during high school season are my best friends. And they all motivate me to work harder every single day. Personal goals push me along with team goals. The amazing opportunities and memories this sport has given me are incredible, and that motivates me to reach the next level of swimming. The swimming program is very difficult, and often times my body gets so exhausted that I cannot imagine swimming another lap. But the happiness I feel after every practice, my teammates that are always there to support me, my amazing coaches, and the family like feeling that both my high school team and club team have created makes swimming so fun. This motivates me to never give up on the sport that I have always

The journey of competitive swimming started at the age of eight for my local `neighborhood team. I exhibited great potential for the future, for I won nearly all my races. This seemed like the sport

I could feel my lungs burning in my chest as oxygen entered only to be forced back out. I push myself to continue moving my arms, pushing the water behind me so I could propel myself forward. At that moment, many things floated around my conscience. It was so intense that I felt like giving up everything I had worked so hard for: the 10-hour online-training, the initial interview, the prior physical training, and the self-determination to achieve my goals. These thoughts were embedded in my mind as I took a side breath, struggling to continue my freestyle stroke.

I started taking even, deep breathes, and I felt it begin to loosen up. It felt strange; like something cold was flowing through me, through my veins, into every piece of me. I felt calm for the first time in awhile. That was when I felt something damp hit my face.

Swimming helped me to make everlasting friendships, and helped get me in better shape. I experienced the pain of waking up early for swim meets, skipped parties, and other events for swimming, but it has helped me grow in character and transform in the pool. Swimming has taught me to respect my coaches fully, and to never give up on anything in life. From my experiences, I still love swimming the same way, ever since I won my first medal at the championships when I was eight. Through it all, swimming will always be a part of my

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