What Is My Swim Career Essay

Growing up in a large family and a busy lifestyle as an athlete has shaped me into who I have become today. My life has been about being the best student, athlete, teammate, brother, son, employee and husband I can possibly be. Being involved in various sports with several different teams, going away to school, getting married have all been big parts of life for me some newer than others but all big in their own way. My life has always been about fighting through adversity to achieve a common goal at no matter what the cost getting to the finish line is something that must be achieved no matter the circumstances. Growing up I was always taught to work hard to achieve your goals no matter what it takes quitting is not an option. If you get yourself in to something and commit it’s up to you to finish what you started. Growing up in a big household with four brothers and sisters there was never a dull moment as something was always happening. It was enjoyable to grow up with so many personalities in my house it taught me how to deal with different issues that others face each day, and to always take others into consideration when making decisions. Being the second youngest in the family I saw my older siblings move out and took it upon myself to be the role-model for my youngest sister and show her that if you make smart and rational decisions good things come from doing so.

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.

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.

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

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

Michael Phelps wanted to face his fear and put his head under water and learn to swim. The narrator states, “Phelps undertook a mission since his childhood to become a champion swimmer”(Narrator para. 3), “Back then, he was a little nervous about putting his head underwater”(Narrator para. 2). By pursuing his goal and wanting to succeed, Michael Phelps is now known as a champion swimmer and the record holder for the most Olympic Medals won.The Narrator states, “Phelps set a world record in July 2012 for earning more medals than any other Olympic athlete” (Narrator para.

I felt as if my stomach was jabbed by punches, every time a new swim event went through the list in the meet. My legs were shaking as if an earthquake was arising. I was prepared to be destroyed and laughed at by the opposing team, and given a disgraceful look by my coaches. I always pictured myself as an outsider that didn’t belong on my high school swim team. After all, I was nowhere as good as the majority of the swimmers on my team, as I have only recently picked up the proper swimming techniques.

The author has had a lifetime of experience with athletics in multiple sports as an athlete, as a coach, and now as an athletic director at a high school. As an athlete that was highly competitive, his mindset was to always work hard and do whatever it took to win. About a year after all of his college eligibility has been completed his good friend took a job at a high school in San Bernardino as a water polo coach and asked him to come out to the pool to teach his boys a few things. The author took on an assistant coaching position from that point on for the next 6 years because he loved teaching the athletes what it was to not only be a competitor but to be a competitor the right way, through hard work and respecting the game. He eventually took over the program and progressed from a coach who wanted to desperately win to a coach that wanted his kids to be successful at everything they attempted to do above all else. That mindset has spilled over into his job as an athletic administrator at a new high school.

I began swimming when I was eight years old. My mother wanted to make sure my siblings and I knew how to swim so she signed us up for lessons at the YMCA. After a few lessons, my instructor informed us that he was the head coach at a swim club and would love for us to join. My sister and I joined the club and swam there for a year or two. It became evident that both of us had a natural talent for swimming and my parents looked into a more competitive team. We joined the Southern Michigan Aquatics Club (SMAC) shortly after.

When my parents first took me to the pool, I played in the water like any other kid would with my floaties and pool noodles. I knew my parents were big on sports, but was always unsure on which they would settle me in. For awhile, I was set on golf since my dad started taking me out to golf courses and arranging golf lessons with one of his colleagues; golf was what interested him. Little did I know, my parents had different plans for me. They changed their minds and I was introduced to a swim coach after school one afternoon. I was able to start that same day, so I did, and that shortly became the one thing in my life that stayed constant ever since. Along with being a swimmer, I was also a ballerina and a pianist. I became a dancer first, then quickly switched over to play the piano since I was more interested in learning to play an instrument. I tried out

I have been a competitive swimmer since I was in sixth grade and have learned many skills through this: strong work ethic, dedication, friendship, and persistence. These four things not only allowed me overcome the struggles of everyday practice, but larger problems outside of the pool as well. I was in my fourth year of swimming. I had the same coach for four years and was beginning to see fantastic results with him. Everybody was improving and things were on the up; however, it only took one day for things to take a dramatic turn.

Since November, I received a few more awards for Mount Si High School and the girls swim team. I was awarded “Student of the Term for Science”. I was nominated by teachers and selected for this award from my entire senior class. For swim team, I was selected by my team for “Most Inspirational” award and received the “2016-2017 Coach’s Award”. At Meadowbrook Urgent Care Center, they asked me to take on more volunteer responsibilities such as running the front desk, including making patient appointments, signing them in, and answering patient

One thing that has been meaningful to me is my experience with high school athletics. I choose high school athletics because of a few reasons. My first reason is how I learned about hard work and if you push yourself, you can achieve your goal. I have been lifting weights three days a week since I was in 8th grade. Up until the summer before my junior year I hadn’t tried very much while I lifted weights. I would rush to finish my workout, sometimes I would even skip lifting. I had wasted my time for three years. I realized that I had to change my work ethic. The summer before my junior year is when I started to push myself. I never skipped lifting the whole summer, and to this day I have not missed a day. I wouldn’t lift to just lift, I lifted

The article "6 Spiritual Lessons Learned from Watching Michael Phelps" is a personal reflection of what Tony Homsy, the author, learned and what he was inspired by watching Michael Phelps in the Olympics in Rio. The first thing Tony learned was that you cannot always get what you want. He writes about how he was not able to find or watch the video of Michael Phelps' gold medal winning relay. The second thing that he learned was that life consists of numerous high and low points. Tony learned that Phelps' life was full of peaks and valleys.

At the time, I thought qualifying for state was the sole reason I worked so hard in practice every day. I couldn’t help but think I had just wasted the past four years. As I sat in despair, something that had happened during meet would not escape my mind. After I had completed the disastrous dive, my coach came up to me and said, “You’re still my hardest worker.” At the time, these words meant nothing to me, but as I thought about them more and more, I realized how impactful they really were, leading me to many important realizations. The first was that success can take on many forms. Success to some may be the number of trophies or medals won, but it can also be measured in personal progress. Thinking back to my first days as a diver freshman year, I came in being capable of very little. I had grown as an athlete and a person, which is what made the past four years worthwhile. I also realized that I took for granted my amazing support system. The swimming and diving team introduced me to some of my greatest friends and my amazing coaches. When looking back on some of my favorite memories as a diver, I remember the many laughs I shared with my teammates, not the times when I got a personal best or came in first