Swimming on the Varsity swim team for the past 4 years has taught me many invaluable life lessons. Most of these lessons can be attributed to not only surviving, but thriving, in difficult circumstances. Coaches don’t always mean what they say. They pick favorites, and their favorites aren’t always the athletes that have a positive impact on the team. Their desire to WIN is very powerful, often defying logic and common sense. Peer pressure is encouraged to express disappointment with teammates for not conforming or meeting expectations of ‘minimum practice standards’. Subjective judgments are made on fellow athlete’s efforts. It is acceptable, and at times even encouraged, to ‘harass’ a team mate for forgetting to wear the team uniform
Imagine taking one step into a chlorine-filled arena. The humid air rushes onto your skin. An immense smile spreads across your face. This is because you know everything is about to change. In less than 24 hours you will be holding a glistening gold medal in your hand, standing up on the podium while the Star Spangled Banner blares for the whole world to hear and tears will stream down your face. Taking one look back at your coach, Teri McKeever, you realize if it wasn’t for her you would not be here. Graciously, you run up, swing your arms around her body, and embrace her in a powerful hug that says it all. Swimming is a very intense sport and consumes every second of a swimmer’s free time. However, putting in hundreds
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
In the fall semester of my freshman year in high school I had decided to try out for my school’s drill team, the Crimson Cadettes. This organization has a reputation of very classy, well put together young women and by being on the team, one automatically has extremely high standards that they are expected to meet. Being a Cadette is a big deal because it requires an abundance of hard work and is very time consuming. My teammates and I are often spending our extra time at school whether it be for practice, pep rallies, contests or even more. There are on average about sixty dancers on the team each year and because we spend so much time together, it is expected that sometimes we’ll disagree on some things.
Having a great coach in this sport is one of the main key components to having a good football team. I’ve met many football coaches and they all have the same traits thing in common - they have strong connections to their players. Football players spend their entire career with their coaches, meaning every weight lifting session and every practice. When it comes to practice, everyone on the team gets a chance to show what they’ve got to the coaches. The coaching staff care for everyone on the team and make sure everyone on the team, regardless of their starting status, receives the same amount of practice as all other players. The starting players are decided based on who works the hardest and contributes to the team more, not based on only who the best players
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.
Everyone has been on some type of team such as a sports team to a work team, to even a team for a project. The success of any team is dependent on the weakest link in the chain.
There can be a dark underside to competition when coaches, athletes, and even fans let the heat of the moment hijack
Harsh coaching of young athletes can often steer kids away from sports all together, but if the coaches get it right, the kids learn important skills for their futures. At a young age, children need discipline in order to put them in the right direction for their futures. This discipline is found in numerous forms, and one of the most common forms is through sports. David Brooks said, “The best coaches still live by a code, and they make no apology for demanding that kids live up to it.” (Brooks) Though strict coaching can turn some young children and their parents away from sports, it can give kids a good role model, teach them discipline, and help them learn to get along with other people.
The coach also does not create any positive feedback for the weaker links on the team to work with. Instead of telling the team they ALL did well, the coach focuses on who are the better athletes. As a result, the members feel
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.
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
The coach has every right to yell at the players. They’re going to get yelled at anyway at some point in lie. It helps get them prepared for the real world and real life situations. If they make it to the pros they are going to hear a lot more a little criticism wouldn’t hurt. Coaches have to be hard to push the limits of students helping them get better with the encouraging words that sometimes come out in different ways. Some coaches find that the hard approach works better bringing out anger in players helps them control it better. Then when they are are hard on them they kind of see the coach wants the best for them and the coach wants them to be the best
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
Marijuana has always been a major topic on War on Drugs, either to let it stay illegal or to decide whether to legalize it. Marijuana can give off deadly or fatal actions that could to harm toward the user or those around the user. While also marijuana can be a help to the economic problems that America faces today. The Hawaii State Government should legalize marijuana because it is a non-addictive substance, it has the potential to increase tax revenue, and there are medical benefits to its use.
The Golden Age of the Qing, governed by the traditional relationship-based philosophy of Confucianism, spanned from 1644 to 1800, providing growth and stability for China. However, decline soon followed as leaders of the Qing refused modernization and Western ideas. It was in this time of corruption, conflict, and humiliation that Mao Zedong seized control with his radical ideas of communism, an ideology that sought a classless society. Intending to restore China’s wealth and power, he began his long journey to fulfill his new vision of China. Mao Zedong revamped China by promoting rights for the peasantry, supplying resources and attention for the peasant class, and implementing a reformed way of thinking while maintaining the traditional idea of a single leader with absolute power in his new society.