Freestyle swimming

Two years ago I joined a no-cut rowing club. Rowing, from what I had heard was a highly athletic sport. Looking back on it, I wasn’t what anyone would consider athletic. For the first week or two of practice, I was skeptical if this sport was an appropriate fit for me, primarily because the training we were doing was far more advanced than anything I had ever experienced. The only other sport I had participated in was the local little league baseball team and as you could imagine it wasn’t a very

that career. Unlike anyone else at the fair, I chose to be a swim coach. At that point, I had only been swimming on the swim team for four years, yet I already decided it would be my life. However, my swimming career started taking a turn for the worst at the end of my Sophomore year of high school, leading me to make a decision that ultimately improved my life. After only 8 years of swimming, I had stopped improving. After peaking my performance at the beginning of my Sophomore year, I found it

Before porcupines had quills to protect themselves, they looked similar to mice, and had nothing to keep them from getting eaten by animals that preyed on them. After many years of this, their numbers were declining rapidly. The remaining porcupines came together to hatch a plan to defend themselves. “We could wear heavy armor!” shouted one enthusiastically. “No,” replied another, “then we would move too slowly.” “We could… get some fire???” one said hesitantly. “That is the worst idea I’ve ever

Two years ago I joined a no-cut rowing club. At the time I was not what you would call athletic. I took up the sport because I thought it resembled rowing a whitewater river raft. I couldn't have been more wrong in my life. On the first day of practice I was extremely out of place. I was among athletes who were six-foot and had played high intensity sports before. The first week came as a slap to the face for me because we trained harder than I had ever done in my life. Over the next 3 months of

Impatiently standing on the itchy grass, I wait for my mom to finish layering sunscreen on me. Just before then, I had attempted to slip on my orange arm floaties. Of cource they got stuck about halfway up my arm so I had to dip them in the water before sucessfully pulling them all the way up to just below my shoulder. At five years old, I hadn’t exactly learned how to swim in any way other than the doggy paddle. Danielle, my little sister, who also wore the same orange floaties, was already at the

stroke of the way. As a result of this great environment I thrived on going to practice to better myself, which ultimately enabled myself to share my passion for this sport with my fellow teammates both young and old. I am captivated by everything swimming and it is my ambition to share my enthusiasm with everyone on deck. Unfortunately, this is harder said than done, as I am not a boisterous individual; however, through small pep talks on deck and genuine compliments to fellow teammates I work to

improvise, adapt, and overcome. Swimming is an integral part of my life—between training at swim practice, lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons, I rarely spend any time on land. Swimming for the Allen High School; Varsity Team has

For me, Islanders Aquatics has been more like a family than a team. We always have been a very close-knit group, and strong bonds were continuously formed throughout the years. The members of this team became some of my closest friends; not only did they help me become a better swimmer, but a better person. I’m extremely thankful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of this team. I would like to thank all my teammates for making these past few years some of the best of my life. We may our

My coach has always told me “Swimming is not something to cry about,” and I was never one to cry about about a bad time or race. The day of my Doctors appointment was the first time I ended up in tears about swimming.I have been swimming competitively since the age of 4 and swimming has given many opportunities and has changed me but never would I have thought that it would land me here. I was reluctant to come I was reluctant to even tell my mom about the pain. But it was getting worse and

The U.S. Men’s National Water Polo Team are the best athletes in the sport. Although they may not have the most wins, being the best athletes can also be measured by the amount of effort put in by the players and programs. They are the best athletes because they persevere, have a great mentality, and they have numerous medals in many tournaments. First of all, we put in the most effort as a program. A great example of this is the Olympic Development Program, where people go through grueling training