It was rumored in the third grade that I would have my right hand amputated. This rumor was stemmed from the fact that I broke my arm, where both the ulna and radius were snapped. The people that surrounded me, being doctors and family were frightened at the sight of me holding my dangling hand with the other. Breaking my arm of itself was not a challenge, but it was the recovery that would challenge my determination and character. In the beginning of third grade, I first joined the Wyckoff YMCA Sharks. This program was more than just a swim team to me, it was as though it was a second family. I was with kids that shared talent in swimming similar to my own, and the coaches were always kind. However, I was only allowed to be with this family for a few weeks as my injury took place late September. Both of my parents believed this injury would mark the end of my very short swimming career. By looking at the injured child in front of them, they never would have thought I would be able to get back in the water or keep up with the other kids. …show more content…
I was away from the kids I met on the team, and I wasn’t allowed to do any physical activity. Time went on and I was able to swim once my cast came off. I remember coming back to the first practice and going into the slowest lane. Typically practices were fun and I would swim well in them, but I couldn’t do that when my right arm would go numb after a single lap.These practices tested if I truly loved swimming. I thought to myself that I didn’t have to go through all of this, of quitting, and everything would be more fun playing with friends from school than just swimming with kids I just met. However, I decided to keep swimming, and I didn’t do it out of love for the sport, but to stay with my second family. I kept with the other kids the best I could, and the attention I gave to the coaches elevated. This element of perseverance and commitment was engraved into my
It all started freshman year of high school. I really wanted to get involved in some kind of sport or club. I couldn’t decide what to do. Many people said I should join the lacrosse team and my response was “I have never played before, how am I suppose to make the team”. I always had an interest in lacrosse however I was scared to go out and buy all the expensive equipment and not make the team.. I went home that night and asked my parents what I should do. My dad encouraged me to go out and try. He said it doesn’t hurt to try. That next morning of school, I raced to the athletic office and signed up for lacrosse, and when that bell rang after school I went to the lacrosse store nearest to me and bought all of the gear so that I could make the first tryout. The fist tryout was the day after I bought all of the gear.
As soon as I started high school, my goal was to play college baseball. I played baseball for a very competitive select club that traveled out of town every week from Thursday through Sun as well as practicing every Tuesday and Wednesday. All through high school, I sacrificed my free time in the summer to prepare myself for college baseball. After receiving offers from four year universities as well as junior colleges, I decided that a junior college would provide me the best opportunity to continue to develop as a player. Even though I decided I wanted to play at a junior college, I wanted the experience of going away to college and living in a dorm so I decided to attend a junior college in Iowa where they had dorms for student athletes. Being ecstatic to be able to go off to college and play baseball was short lived. During the first month of baseball practice, I injured my arm, spent two months in physical therapy with no improvement, and then finally receiving the bad news that I would need surgery to improve. Surgery was performed over Thanksgiving break, but I was now faced with months of physical therapy, which meant
At the start of my swimming career, I was horrible. As any child that was five years old, I still did not fully know how to work my body and make it do what I wanted it to and I often looked very spastic swimming. None of coaches really believed that I would stick with the sport or
The first practice was at 5 a.m. and the night before I couldn't sleep. My mind would keep wondering what would happen, was I supposed to be wearing my bathing suit, what were my teammates going to be like. When it came time to go to practice I was shaking the whole way. Soon after I learned that my fears should have not been focused on such silly things now. If anything swim really helped me face them head on. With so much change going with swim I got used to this fear. My family and friends were also a great succor. Even though they probably didn't know that it was helping me. I'm very grateful to my father supporting anything I wanted to
My injury was an accident, but I viewed it as a failure. Not only have I believed I failed my team and parents, I thought I failed myself. I had a goal for myself and that was to bring a championship to the program. But for it to end so suddenly caused negativity to fly around in my head, constantly bringing me down. I let my “failure” affect me mentally and a result of that, I was
When I was 13, I began to get really bad shoulder and neck pain from swimming. I didn’t tell anyone because swimming was my life, my one true passion in life, and I thought if I told people it was hurting me they would make me stop swimming. I kept resisting the fact that it hurt me to swim because I felt it would hurt me even more to stop swimming. The shoulder pain got worse and I told my parents. I began to do physical therapy trying to get it to heal, so I could keep swimming. Eventually it got to the point where it hurt to swim even two laps. I realized and accepted that if I wanted to get better, I had to stop swimming. (tell story about something I make worse by resisting it)As Jim Rohn wisley points out,
My family is from Plainfield, New Jersey. During the summer we would frequent the public pools in our community. For as long as I could remember I have always loved the water. As a child, I would often jump in the water with no resistance or fear, and would have to be rescued by a family member. These near drowning experiences never place fear into my heart because I would immediately return to the water. In middle school, I decided to join the swim team. After all the years I spent jumping in the pool with no inhibitions, I had never learned how to swim. I spent a good portion of the swim season learning the basics: breathing under water, breathing techniques, kicking and proper stroking. By mid season my coaches were confident enough in my swimming abilities for me to swim in the 25 meter races. And by this time I recognized swimming lack it’s original zing, as an organized sport. By ninth grade I
I took part in my first swimming race when I was ten years old. My parents, fearing injury, directed my athletic interests away from ice hockey and into the pool. Three weeks into my new swimming endeavor, I somehow persuaded my coach to let me enter the annual age group meet. To his surprise (and mine), I pulled out an "A" time. I furthered my achievements by winning "Top 16" awards for various age groups, setting club records, and being named National First Team All-American in the 100-Butterfly and Second Team All-American in the 200-Medley. I have since been elevated to the Senior Championship level, which means the competition now includes world-class swimmers.
Swimming has been my whole life, since I jumped into the pool for the very first time. I loved every aspect of swimming from the adrenaline running through my body during my races and getting to spend even more time with my friends and my sister, and the stress of big meets coming up in the schedule. Except everything didn't go according to plan after the first day of school when I got home and I saw my parents sitting by my sister on the coach and my sister was crying.
I began to lose motivation in our team’s ability to win. I had thought that the predicted results would not happen anymore due to an unfortunate injury which had dropped the cheerfulness in the team during which I continued to think my ultimate goal which was to make this season an outstanding one. I took initiative to seek medical assistance and decided that the health of my teammate was more important than winning a race. Despite losing one of our strongest participants, I adjusted our attitude and worked with each swimmer individually to build determination and perseverance which acted as a rocket-fuel to succeed. Our accomplishments without him at the end were successful with many medals brought home overachieving the predicted results. During this time, winning a total of 3 goals and 2 silver medals had me realize that this was the greatest season I had ever had in my career of competitive
I had played on the volleyball team all through my junior high days, and was a starter on the “A” freshman team when I reached high school. As a sophomore, I couldn’t believe it when I got the towel thrown in on me. I was devastated when I was cut from the team. Volleyball was my life; I absolutely loved the sport. How could they do this to me? Everyone told me things would turn out fine, but how did they know? A close friend of mine wrote me a letter stating, “I know that right now it is hard to accept the paths that God has chosen for us, but I am sure whatever you decide to do with what has been thrown in your way you can surpass everyone else”. I thought about what that really meant, and decided she was right. I had been thrown something I was not sure what to do with or how to handle, but with a little advice from my brother, Chris, I decided to take a risk and try something new. I chose to become a member of our school’s cross-country team.
When I first joined the swim team, I wasn’t expecting much of an improvement in my swimming ability. Since my fear of drowning from early childhood onto my ability to only handle shallow water. There wasn’t much progress. My coach was persistent and with the help of my teammates, I found myself challenged in a
After two days, we went to a pool party. I still couldn't swim even without my cast so, I didn't get in the pool. I was sad. My mom said that she would get anything from the food tables though so, I didn't have to get up from the comfortable beach chair I sitting in.
I taught beginners ages 4-7; most were afraid of the water, in order for them to get in the water and learn, they needed to know that I wouldn’t let them go. I had to build a bond which each swimmer; gain their trust and speak to them in a way they will understand me. Not only did I build relationships with the kids, but with their parents as well. They saw the way I worked with their child, see if I was a good enough coach for them; talked to them about their kids and explained where they were and how they have been improving. I was nervous talking to parents and kids in a way they’d trust me, but over time my confidence started rising; social skills began to improve with both kids and
Many times during my first season, I was discouraged. I can remember my first swim meet. It was at Marshall University’s Henderson Center. I was so nervous that I almost did not