The smell of chlorine on my skin is a scent I don't even realize any more. I let out a deep yawn as I slowly tie up my hair into my specific bun. I then in a one fluid motion I latch my cap on my bun and pull it over my head. The next step is my goggles, I place them on my eyes and let the tint change my surroundings. I jump into the cool, but some how thick water of the YWCA’s pool.…
But on the first day of what some call the best year of one's life, Senior year of Highschool, I made a mistake. On the first day back in the water after a two week break, and the first last day of highschool, I was euphoric with my new found seniority. Although had still been in contact with my friends from the team, I had not seen them since before the break and I was eager to catch up. Our practice had been in session for fifteen minutes and we were still warming up when I recognized my best friend behind my lane, a rush of adrenaline ran through my body and I lifted my head from the water to say “Hi.”…
Although times were difficult, her mother did all she could to keep her daughter's mind of her father's death. Esther could take her father's death in two ways contrasting ways: Either accept her father's death and draw courage and strength from it, or let it destroy her piece by piece…. Months Later swimming season had just begun. Esther did what her father would like best. After his death, Esther pursued her dream of one-day swimming for The University of British Columbia.…
I remembered, first time I tried to learn how to swim with my friend. I was at my friend’s house. We ate delicious pizza together. She wanted to go to the swimming pool at her house, but she knew I was scared of the water. So, she was going to teach me how to swim.…
I hate Christmas because nothing is phenomenal. I am not being facetious. I assume that Santa was busy and remiss when he forgot to give me a Christmas gift. Every time I saw other children play with their new toys by looking through the translucent window, I consternated about Christmas, and felt disconsolate. It is a paradox that a rich country should be so many poor people.…
Telling my mother that I am a lesbian was the biggest accomplishment I ever did. When I was a kid, she would always scold me for acting boyish and playing with boy's toys. I had my first crush when I was in third grade. I could not tell anyone because I had a crush on a girl. For most of my life I had been a closed book.…
My heart pounds harder than it has ever pounded before. The initial feelings of nervousness and excitement are momentarily forgotten with the intoxicating smell of chlorine. As each ear-piercing whistle is heard, the biggest moment of my swimming career is approaching. Among all the high school swimmers who made it to the PIAA Swimming and Diving State Championships at Bucknell University, I try to relax and calm my emotions, but I have been waiting for this moment my entire life. The announcer blasts through the crowd of excited parents and high adrenergic athletes, “Next up, 400 free relay.”…
“Erin… is it Cronk? Crownce? Crounce? Cronkee? Curonikey?”…
It was nice cool night and I was going to talk to my parents about me doing swimming and diving this year. I asked my mom what things she did in diving. She said “We practiced are jumps and we learned how we are suppose to have our hands ,when diving”. I was talking to my parents ,and just the top of my head ,I remember.…
The day seemed to drag on and on, as I waited, counting down the days to California. It was a humid, sunny afternoon down at the Alton pool, where I usually spend most of my summer days working as a lifeguard. Today was very different than most…. And maybe the reason why was because it was my last day of work before I flew off to the big L.A. Most days at the pool the time went by slower than any I have ever known, with the scorching hot sun burning my skin, and little kids yelling at their friends telling each other secrets or what they want to play next.…
“If a woman cannot stay home with her children, then maybe she just should not have them!” Natosha Keller, my mother, is a stay at home mom who believes if a woman were to have children, her number one priority should be to take care of her children and not have to worry about anything else. On the other hand there are other mothers who do not have a choice to being a stay at home mom, and they have to work to support their family. Making the decision to stay with your children or join the workforce can be a difficult process. For a lot of parents it is damaging for them to be away from their children for more than a few hours a day, and that is a big reason why we have stay at home moms.…
The Lesson in Quitting For the past 7 years of my life, swimming has played a huge role. Growing up, I had always enjoyed being in the water, and was one of the odd kids that genuinely enjoyed swimming lessons, no bribes required (thinking about it, I wish I had some of those kids in the lessons I teach now). Overtime, it began to feel less like a passion and more like an obligation; something I had committed to that was too late to stop. I was afraid to quit, afraid to disappoint, and trying to be dedicated to a sport I had lost interest in made me start to hate it. This year, I finally decided to drop the sport, and am now embracing the huge change it has had in my life.…
I sat down by myself and reflected. After tens of thousands of hours of devotion, swimming has become a huge part of who I am, and will no doubt shape the person I will come to be. One of the earliest lessons swimming taught me was to never give up. When I was 9, swimming taught me to fight the fatigue during lap two of a race. When I was twelve, swimming taught me to attack race two with everything I had, even if race one hadn't gone my way.…
She swiftly grows fussy and holds on to the pools walls, to slip away for her dear life. I briskly swim after her and try to capture her attention once again. Once she became interested again, I try to teach her how to tread water. I begin to explain to her, “As soon as you reach deep waters, and you can’t reach the wall or the stairs, you should call for help, but if no one's there, you will need to move your feet in a circle, as if you were riding a tricycle. And you will need to move your hands in a circle, as if you were, a whirl…
Similarly to swimming, I have the obligation to carry on in all the these activities in my life because drowning is not an option. In swimming you must juggle staying above water, kicking your legs, and paddling with your arms. As a high school student you must juggle school work from each class, students are accustomed to have a job, and one is expected to be involved in a kind of school activity, whether the activity is a sport or a club. I throw myself into every task that I take on similarly to how I threw myself into the pool when I was a child learning to…