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
I have been swimming year-round on a club team since the age of six and when I was younger improving came relatively easily. However, around age 13, I hit a training plateau despite having the same work ethic and focus that I had previously had. I grew to despise swimming and at points I wanted to quit. However, unlike Junior, I had role models and mentors who were positive influences on me and who helped me to overcome this challenge. Primarily, I had several of my best friends on the team who convinced me to keep persevering and to not simply quit the sport that I loved so much just because I was no longer dropping time. For example, every day I watch my close friends Lizanne and Cate come to practice and give it their all, regardless of the numerous injuries and medical issues that plagued their swimming career; their positive outlook and dedication motivated me to try even harder than I had before. Moreover, I had by parents, something that Junior did not have; my parents were always there to support me after yet another disappointing meet reminding me that “you get five minutes for a win and five minutes for a lost”. My parents where my voice of reason as I tried to work through my issues; they were always there to encourage me, but also were very honest with me
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
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
Versailles: An Illusion of The Sun King’s Authentication The Palace of Versailles is among the most well regarded architectural pieces of modern Europe. The masterpiece was originally established in 1624 as a hunting lodge and chateau for Louis XIII of France (reigned 1610-1643). His successor, Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715), turned the building into an extravagant palace in which he would live in full time; once he moved to Versailles he never went back to Paris due to his issues with the parlement of Paris (The Palace of Versailles, Encyclopedia Britannica). The illustrious palace is laced with detail and exuberance meant to glorify Louis XIV himself.
I have been competitively swimming for twelve years now. I started swim lessons at six months and as a kindergartener my mother signed me up for my local team because “It was the only sport that tired me out enough to keep me good in school.” Neither of parents had swam in high school, my mother was a runner and my father was a hockey player. Even though their reasoning might have been a lot different from that of many other athletes, I am forever grateful for that decision.
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.
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.
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 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
Throughout my 2013 season, I had many hardships with multiple of people due to not agreeing with one another and miscommunication issues. I was frustrated by the results of every race I swam at every meet because I was either receiving the same personal best time or swimming slower than my best. This lead to a built up of anger throughout the year towards my coaches, parents, friends, as well as on myself. I had never felt this feeling of sadness which resulted to an idea of ending my 7 years of competitive swimming and moving onto something new at this point after this season. I had multiple of meetings and discussions with both my parents and coach quitting but they all disagreed and motivated me to continue swimming. After qualifying for
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.
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
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
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