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Importance of mental toughness in sport
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“BEEP. BEEP. BEEP,” My phone alarm went off at 5:30. The sun was shining through my window which filled my room with light and warmth. I groggily got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to grab my suit. I ran downstairs to pack my swim bag and eat breakfast. Today is the first day of high school swim. I am as excited as I am nervous. I've been swimming for a while but high school swim is very different. More meets. More practices. More competition. Megan came to pick me up for practice and she and Taylor were jamming out to music in the car the whole way to Appleton West. But all I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest. We get to Appleton West and walk into the aquatic center. The strong smell of chlorine greats us. We see our coaches …show more content…
My stomach feels like a rock trying to sink me down to the bottom of the pool. I hear the long whistle signaling me to step up onto the block.s. I step onto the creaky blocks and get ready. Adrenalin rushes through me ready to propel me into the water. The announcer tells us to take our marks. A few short moments after, I hear the long beep which signals me to dive into the water. I hit the water with a graceful splash. The bitter water shocks my system and then sends me into an all-out sprint. I race through the water trying hard not to look at my teammates next to me. As I get closer to the wall I see some of my teammates cheering me on. It feels as if their cheers are propelling me through the water. When I fling into a flip turn I glance at my competitors and I can see I am in front. I push a little bit harder and hit the wall with all my might. I look up at the scoreboard and see that I got first! My legs feel like jello as I get out of the water. Some of my teammates pat me on the back and say things like “Good race,” or “Nice job,” I mumble thank yous and continue on my way to talk to Coach. When I get to my coach she looks very surprised which startles me a bit. “Wow!” She exclaims “I'm really glad I got to see what you can do! Great Job Becca,” My coach says while patting me on the back. I head off to hang with some of my new friends. Even though I was so nervous in the beginning I know
John Cheever in “The Swimmer” uses much symbolism for his character and the voyage that this story must take. Neddy Merrill, the speaker of “The Swimmer” represents in the beginning of the piece the model of the American male of the time period in which the story was written. As the story progresses, however, symbolism is substituted for references to the nature of Cheever’s character. To be more specific, Neddy Merrill is the perfect example of the wealthy, suburban man of high status. As the story unravels, however he becomes none of those things and instead undergoes a transformation and tragedy that give insight, through symbolism and surrealism, the American’s male’s conception of life and legacy.
Set in 1960's suburbia, “The Swimmer” follows a man's nightmarish journey home as the very aspects of life blend, fusing realism and surrealism to create an “imaginative and vital myth of time and modern man” (Auser 292). The story opens with Ned Merrill deciding to swim across the county only using the pools of his neighbors in an attempt to celebrate the day's beauty. As the story progresses, it begins to take on a more dark and surrealistic tone as Ned loses his will to continue. Finally, he stumbles home, only to find his house desolate, grim, and vacant. John Cheever, author of “The Swimmer,” could intend to create Ned in the image of a modern tragic hero following the archetypal themes of journey, discovery, and initiation or use the story to satirize the lives of the privileged in the middle of the American century; however, the greatest purpose of Neddy's surreal journey home is to create an allegorical tale of Ned's dive through the effects of alcoholism.
The Three-Year Swim Club is astoundingly written by Julie Checkoway and has 404 pages to capture the reader’s attention in a grappling way. This novel is the untold story of Maui’s sugar ditch kids and their undying quest for olympic glory. These sugar ditch kids had no hope until Soichi Sakamoto taught them how to swim and started the Three-Year Swim Club (also referred to as 3YSC). The most unlikely children to all of the United States soon became national champions breaking a countless amount of records along the way. Even through the discrimination endured and the fight that lingered in World War II, this coach and swimmers strived for their main goal and dream; the olympics. They achieved this dream in 1948 by qualifying for the 1948 Olympiad.
I want to be a Junior Swim Coach because I want to help teach the young swimmers not only how to swim, but to have fun while they are doing it. I also want to be a Junior Swim Coach because I remember how much I learned from my junior coaches and how much fun it was being on the Junior Swim Team. Because of this, I would like to give every Junior Swimmer the same experience I had. I think I am a good fit for the program because I work very well with kids. I am able to have fun with them and be a leader to them at the same time. I believe that having an “out-of-the-water” relationship with the kids I coach is a vital quality in being a good coach and mentor. I think I am able to have a good relationship with the kids and bond with them while
It is the final hour of observation of the night, and, as the members of the water polo team rush to the opposite end of the pool that I am observing from, I become dazed. Sitting in five excruciatingly long, overwhelming college-level classes, listening to small-minded people rant about some political event or another, and watching my basketball team practice without me is enough to make the aqua blue walls of the pool area inviting. I stare off into the wall, wondering if, just like the water, I can jump right in and disappear.
iving up my week and weekend nights for swim practice was something I was used to by the time I started high school. Swimming, was my calling, and with that came many sacrifices. Practices were everyday, Monday through Friday and sometimes on Saturdays, and consisted of countless sets of sprinting, kicking and pulling. The only thing that kept us stable during practice was counting down the time on the clock, “Just thirty more minutes, and I can relax for another twenty hours.” From there I would go home in time to shower and finish homework. Finishing what I needed to do before midnight was considered luck. The cycle repeated itself as I would get up the next day and do it again. However, there are many other aspects to this sport besides
Finish, Finish, Go, and Go you just set the new world record. Every four years lots of people gather around a pool cheering for Olympians. It is a very noisy place. A lot of Olympians that are part of the summer Olympics are very athletic, they swim all year around. The swimming Olympic history and background is very interesting. They have done so many new things over that past couple of years. They come out with new rules every year to make things more fair and challenging. There are a lot of events and tons of records that have been broke. A lot of Olympians have set future goals to stride for. I was swimming the 200 meter fly I was at a really good time when I had 50 meter sprint left at the end all I could think about was I’m going to set the new world record. Olympic swimming is a very fun sport it is very athletic. Every year in the summer time every one always sits around a TV watching this it is very famous in America. Swimmers from all around the world come and here and compete. There is a lot of competition there I have found out a lot about the history of swimming. There are a lot of events and tons of records that have been broke. A lot of Olympians have set future goals to stride for.
Imagine that it’s the closest swim meet of the season, and your team is losing by a mere two points. You know that your race could pull your team ahead, but you’re starting to doubt yourself. As the starting signal goes off, you dive in and hear your team explode into cheers. This gives you a boost of confidence and you pull ahead, slamming into the finish and out touching your opponents. With a smile on your face, you proudly turn to your teammates who are all screaming and jumping around. Joining a summer swim team ensures a summer filled with fun, and being with a community of supportive and happy people every day. Swim practice is also an amazing workout with serious health benefits, and can even help lower the risk of heart disease. Many people may be afraid of the commitment of practices and meets, but in reality, practices are not mandatory and are actually very fun, and meets are optional.
So there I was, standing in the locker room. There were eight four-year olds (boys and girls) the two teachers (both women, around the age of twenty five) and me. It was a Wednesday, which means it is a swim day. As everyone around me began shedding his or her clothes, I felt my heart skip a beat as I wondered where I was going to change.
I began my approach towards the end of the board, feeling the course material under my bare feet, as I coached myself through my dive. Okay, push with the leg, STAY BALANCED, knee up, patient with the arms, swing, jump, and throw! As the board tossed me up into the air, I threw as hard as I could and grabbed the back of my legs. Wow, that was a pretty good takeoff, I thought. As I flipped, I realized that I had plenty of time to make this dive, and I began to smile as a spliced through the water.
I dip my toes in—feels cold. My nerves rise up and spread like fire throughout my body while I watch—while I wait. Stomach hurts. All those butterflies clash and crowd. They come every time that I race—it never fails. There is so much noise—the splash of water, talking, yelling, whistling, cheering.
... it can also be lifesaving as well. Hence, the younger children begin swimming, the sooner they will be able to perform proper safety skills in the water.
Upon arriving at the pool, I was very nervous, and usually when I am, I’m always fidgeting with my hands, or I ramble endlessly about something. That day, I did both. Not wanting to be late, I quickly change in the locker room and rushed out. I stood patiently by the side of the pool with the other girls around my ages and started a conversation. After introducing ourselves, we had gotten to know each others and to be quite honest, they were really nice and friendly, which make me feel so much less nervous. They were saying that they didn’t know how to swim which makes me feel at ease because I didn’t want embarrass myself. When the coach came over with a huge smile, she introduce herself and told us to start out by doing some stretches and then to gather by the pool in a single line. When everyone was finish. We got into the pool one at a time and I was very hesitant when I was told to get into water, but I realized I eventually need to overcome this fear, rather sooner than later. First thing coach taught us was the ability to float, which wasn't easy for me but I was able to do it. After that, she gave us a kickboard to help us practice our kicks, while some were struggling, I actually got it. Lastly she told us to do a lap with the kickboard, in my opinions it was the best part of practice that day. After practice, my mom and the other girls parents decided
The bell rings, I do a silent cheer. Gym is next and today we get to swim. I love to swim and I believe that swimming should be added to every school’s curriculum. Swimming helps kids stay fit, the perfect time to teach it is during gym so it doesn’t run into learning, and swimming helps everybody in their everyday life. Kids should be in the pool every single day.
To date, the pool has ceased to be an attribute of luxury and at present almost everyone can afford it. Many people think about how to build a swimming pool with their own hands. But at the same time, it is not the ability to do this on your own, but how to build a swimming pool is decisive - it depends on it whether it will serve you impeccably for a long time.