Swimming Upstream

It was my junior year, in a small town that is unknown to many, Junction, TX. I was there with a group from school for a three-day competition. One of the main activities that weekend was to go tubing down the Llano River for about an hour. My group and I approached the area where the tubes were being distributed. Behind that day’s activity leaders, there was a stack of orange life-jackets and as we were each handed a glossy tube, we were asked if we wanted one. We were told they were not necessary

It is even worse when I go outside. I cover my mouth and pinch my nose to prevent the polluted air from entering my lungs. Sometimes I time how long I could hold my breath, I swear that if I implemented this to swimming I would have become an Olympic champion! (I used to be in a swimming team, but that’s a long story.) My vision for my future has been shaped from my experiences and actions I took from the last couple of years. Last year, my classmates and I cleaned “Selbe” river. I know what we

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

As a collegiate swimmer, doing anything in my power to improve my times in order to help the team succeed is a crucial part of my day-to-day activities. Based on this article, one thing that I can add to my routine is using imagery to visualize my events. Visualization is defined as creating/re-creating the experience of activity in the mind (Post, Muncie, & Simpson, 2012). Previous research proposes that creating these experiences facilitates skill acquisition, performance, motivation, confidence

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