Splashing. That’s really all I could hear aside from the countless conversations that echoed through my local YMCA. My bare foot touched the wet tile floor, which sent chills down my back. After grabbing a cherry colored kickboard from a shelf, I trotted back and hopped into the ice cold pool, alongside my peers as we waited for our swim instructor, a young blond in a strappy one piece swimsuit, to give us our warm-up task.
Being a five-year-old girl, swimming class was the highlight of my day, since it was the only activity I was doing on this Saturday morning. Opposite the pool, I spotted my mother with my younger brother in her lap while he was playing a game on her phone. As I raced by my peers in a kickboard relay, a smile crept onto my face stretching from corner to corner as I kicked the people behind me harshly in the face. After about an hour, my arms and legs became sore and my nose was filled with an acidic chlorine stench. Just as soon as I swam back to the shallow end of the pool to
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This one word brings back countless emotions. As a young swimmer, I ached to perfect my dive, a dive in which I would travel halfway across the pool just by jumping, pointing my feet, arching my hands, and having pin straight legs all at once. My mother and father have encouraged me to dive ever since, helping me improve it and making it the best by taking slow motion videos and giving me feedback on my every move. I paddled to the small stairs and scurried to the diving board on the opposite side of the pool, wrapping my arms against my body in attempts to keep myself warm from the freezing air. Eagerly, I hopped up and down waiting in a line behind my classmates. Time seemed to go slower than imaginable. The icy cold air brushed against my skin as small water droplets trickled down from my heads to my toes. At last, it was my turn to dive. Being the last one in line, I see that my instructor has taken the rest of my group to the shallow pool to play a
I approach the rugged mountain, shielding my body from the nasty frost nipping at my exposed skin. The sun ever so lightly peeks over the horizon as I strap on my skis, lightly dusted with a thin layer of fresh snow. Although my body shivers unceasingly, I feel comforted by the surges of adrenaline pumping through my body. I skate briskly toward the ski lift to secure my place as the first person in line. On the slippery leather seats of the lift my mind races, contemplating the many combinations of runs I can chain together before I reach the bottom of the hill. I arrive at the peak of the mountain and begin building up speed. Floating on the soft snow, weaving through the trees and soaring over rocks, I feel as if I am flying. The rush of adrenaline excites me. I feed on it. I thrive on it. I am ski; I live for speed; I am an evolving technique and I hold a firm edge.
33 feet up, looking down at the water, trying to determine if this trick will make or break a diver from the rest of his or her career is a heart pounding experience. He jumps, spins, flips, and then hurdles 62 miles per hour toward the unforgiving water head first. The loud splash the diver makes as he enters the water perfect. He disappears into the dark obis of the water for what feels like forever, as he mentally prepares himself for either applause or boos. He finally has no choice but to come up. The room is silent as his head breaks the surface of the water. Then before he has time to recollect what is going on the room busts into cheers and applause, he looks at the score board and sees his name move up from third to first place. The adrenaline rushing through a divers veins, the anticipation till he enters the water, all of this makes diving the best sport in the whole world and Britain definitely knows this.
Have you ever thought you didn't like something, but then you tried it and loved it? That's how volleyball was for me. I played for the park district when I was younger, but I didn't enjoy it. “I really don’t want to play volleyball,” I told my mom over and over, “It hurts my arms to hit the ball.” was my main reason for not playing. Now that I think about it, that was a really bad excuse to not play. The problem was that my mom played in college and it's always been her favorite sport, so I knew that I would have to play when I got older. My mom told me that I would try it out, and if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have to play. Turns out, I actually love volleyball!
Immediately, I angled my position and went for a dead sprint toward the water. I jumped off the cliff. I never felt anything like it; the trajectory had me flying through the air for longer than I expected. A surge of adrenaline pulsed through my body, bringing a new sense of life to me. The scorching heat went away as gravity pulled my body toward the water, bringing me a pleasant breeze through my fall. Then, I finally hit the water. I didn’t stick a solid landing, as I went head first into the water. I panicked and opened my eyes under the murky water, only to see nothing but dirt and sediments float around me. I kept sinking and saw a monstrous fish swim right in front of my face. At that very moment, my body went into overdrive, and I managed to project myself back up to the surface.
Sullivan is still trying to decide on obvious requirements for students to keep track of in order to stay on or join the swim team. “Obviously grades are a requirement,” Sullivan imposed, “Eligibility has to be there.” The main focus that Sullivan wants is for people to come in and know how to swim. Of course, to join a competitive swim team you need to know how to swim, “it doesn’t have to be the prettiest stroke… I don’t mind if I have to break stuff down for people,” Sullivan reinstated. Thought the time has passed for girls’ swimming, you can still try to get in for this winter season. Sullivan wants to be able to include as many people as possible and is happy to accept new people. For the coming spring season, boys who want to swim need to “have their golden ticket, a physical, parent permission slip, and all the dues in” to be able to swim.
Every time I step outside my house, I am constantly reminded of the beauty that is the opportunities that are laid at my feet. Recently I’ve had the privilege of seeing and participating in many different worlds such as the populous city of New York, the beautiful and lively city of Boston, I’ve shadowed doctors at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, but the world I live in has given me the best opportunity that I have taken advantage of: swimming.
We're introduced to "dryland" and combination of stretches and exercises to do before entering the pool each day. Next we're in the water I am placed in the "intermediate lane" with a simple set with a total of 500 yards of swimming.Tryouts progress until Friday with each day learning something new and incorporating it into our set. Working on my arms to get a better pull and my legs for faster and more powerful kicks now shedding two, three, even four seconds off my best time. With tryouts over for the week I now await to find out if I made it. Come Monday night and I learn I have made the junior varsity team, excitement rushes through me. I made the team, this is where all of my hard work pays
Have you ever had a moment in time that seems like minutes or hours even though it was only a few seconds? Have you ever seen everything before you play out in slow motion, where you are aware of everything around you, yet not knowing what was going on? I have, and as I look back on it, I feel very blessed and protected. On March 21, 1987, I decided to take a little swim in our swimming pool and almost drowned.
When I was a Child, I have never stopped wondering what it would be to fly in the sky. I had tried to jump from sofa or bed with an opened umbrella in my hand，and imagined myself as a flying bird. As I grow up, those wonderful fantasy become faded in my brain. I still like flying, and I had experience something like helicopter tour, but never a real fly. I always have the thoughts to explore life, to experience
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.
Finally two hours later we blew our whistles to clear the pool for our three o’clock break. I was standing in the kiddie area. It was a warm day, but didn’t feel like submerging my body so I reclined underneath one of the umbrellas in the water. Ten minutes later our break was over and it was time to let them in. I moved to my next spot which was a chair by the basketball hoops.
A great amount of excitement rushed through my body as the Olympics were on TV, and the shot put event I had been dying to watch was about to come on. It is only once every four years I get to watch the Olympics, and this was the first time I was excited about this particular event. This event is not something the majority of people are dying to watch, simply because Usain Bolt headlines the sport of Track & Field with his impressive running events. However, besides Usain being the main attraction of Track & Field during the Olympics, the sport has been losing popularity as a whole. In my case, throwing two years in high school, and now as a current college thrower, my personal connection to this event had my emotions running high.
Ice skating was one of the many things I had always wanted to do when I was young. So, just as I wished, we headed up to Atlanta. It was mid-december and the weather was perfectly cool. There was a light breeze and happy vibes surrounding my family and I. As soon as we arrived, I threw on my skates and headed towards the rink. Just as my skate touched the the ice, my hand immediately shot towards the rail. My legs went out from under me and the realization hit me, I had no idea how to ice skate. Similar to most 8 year olds, I felt as if it was biggest problem I had ever encountered. Although help was offered, I had decided I could figure it out on my own, but unfortunately, that was not getting me anywhere. I struggled as I made my way around
If I am not at school or playing a sport, I am probably surfing. Surfing gives me an insane adrenaline rush, and I have loved it since I was a little kid. So, naturally one of the greatest moments of my life involves surfing. It started on a cold December day. I woke up at five in the morning and immediately began to get ready.
My toes burrowed into the damp sand and I was relieved to realize that the water was warmer than I had expected. As I stood there and breathed in, deeply, the moist salty air, allowing my heart to fill with the vigor of the ocean and releasing the thoughts of the boy from my past with each exhale, a ball hit my feet and a man ran to get it as his friend yelled “you’re welcome!.” Were they trying to get my attention? I thought as I simply walked away avoiding eye contact with the man who collected the ball. I wandered along the water’s border allowing the water to cooly kiss my feet. the water hit my feet. I smiled as I looked at all of the young surfers attempting to catch the two foot waves. I amused myself by pondering what their future would look like and if I was witnessing the start of a surfing legend. I envied their potential, the years they would have to master their art to acquire their dreams, whatever they may be.