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. …show more content…
Overall, the author’s purpose of sharing this shocking story is to prove that those Maui sugar ditch kids could achieve much more than what those originally believed. While there were many interesting events within this novel, the one I found the most important was when Soichi Sakamoto first began to teach the ditch children to swim in 1932.
“They were tired of speed floating. They wanted to race and when they did, it pleased them” (64). This is where the journey to swimming success was ignited; the ditch races between the children. Sakamoto was not the one to suggest the races, but the children were. They were the spark to the real competition that began. Before they all knew it the 3YSC was created and it took of with a boom that meant many kids setting island records (75). In less than two years, these so-called “ditch kids of Maui” went from not knowing how to swim to wanting to compete more than anything and achieving higher than anyone could have ever imagined. I found this event most important because these ditch kids who faced a world of adversity, were finding joy in a sport that not only took their heart, but also …show more content…
mine. The second event that I enjoyed the most was the many trips to nationals taken throughout the novel. Keo Nakama was the first one to qualify and when he did attend the meet, he got second to some of the best athletes in the world (133). Halo Hirose also surprise everyone by coming in one second behind an olympian in his first 200 meter freestyle race (87). This proved to the AAU that there was a new way of coaching and it was actually working. For years upon years, the technique of a stroke stayed the same and it was swam only one way. Sakamoto individualized each and every stroke to his swimmers, allowing them to create their own speed off of what was comfortable to them. Owing to the Hawaiian coach, he transformed the way swimming was coached. He was the first coach to change everything and coach his own way. He didn’t know a thing about swimming before he started teaching these kids. I found this enjoyable because this is how I am coached today and knowing that Sakamoto’s coaching allowed swimmers to qualify for nationals and even world championships, it makes me proud to be a swimmer. The third and final most interesting event that occurred within this novel is the swimmers involvement in World War II.
Not only did a majority of Sakamoto’s swimmer get recruited for the military, but they were also discriminated against due to their Japanese ancestry. Halo Hirose was a specific anecdote where he had to attend a separate base, made specifically for Japanese-Americans (269). Bill Smith also contributed to the war, but in a different way. He taught soldiers to swim before they traveled overseas with Adolph Kiefer (275). This allowed more soldiers to stay alive during WWII and taught them new strategies in war. Although many Maui boys died, Coach Sakamoto’s ditch wrigglers did not (283). It was though he had taught them something others never got the chance to learn; disciple, self-reliance, and the mindset of never giving up. Consequently, I found this event interesting because it proves that swimmers do not just swim, but pick up life skills more valuable than
anything. I learned many facts or ideas from this book. The first one is, in the early to middle 1900’s, sugar was the absolute king on Maui. It trapped a countless number of people in the plantation systems with a meager amount to live off of. Families were forced to live in camps and adhere to a curfew set for them. Due to the little amount of money they were given, many could not escape the plantation systems and generation after generation was stuck in the same place as their parents. Once the sugar trade crashed, it allowed more and more to create new lives. This is the Hawaii we know today. The one that is diverse, unique, accepting, and has an abundance of different careers. Although, the people of Hawaii were not accepting of everything back in the 1930’s. To the Hawaiian population, it was frowned upon and forbidden to let a girl travel to a national championship with her male coach and teammates without a chaperone. Fujiko Katsutani qualified for the national championships, but her parents and the AAU directors of Hawaii would not allow her to travel without a woman chaperone. While Sakamoto’s husband took this position, it just completely astounded me that this was the protocol. Today, we can travel with our coaches and teammates as we please, as long as we are in separate hotel rooms. Thirdly, I learned about Bill Smith’s rise to Olympic glory. I had often heard my Hawaiian friends speak of him with such great honor and now I understand why. It is one of the most memorable races in the history of swimming where the race between the top two finishers lasted till the very second. This race is when Smith won the gold medal at the 1948 Olympiad in the 400 meter freestyle. Although no footage can be found of this race, its been documented many of times by various people who attended the olympics. Not only did Smith win the gold, but he gave a hope to all Hawaiians, something they all needed. Bill Smith immediately gave his success to the man who helped him achieve his dreams, Soichi Sakamoto. Coach Sakamoto was a man who was successful not only as a club coach, but also a college coach. Even while continuing to coach for his beloved newly-named Hawaii Swim CLub, he also coached for the University of Hawaii. He coached there for over twenty-one years, creating large impacts on their college team. During his time there and before it as well, he coached over seven national championship teams. The highest number of national titles achieved by any coach in the AAU program. Sakamoto also coached a number of Olympians, each who became legends within the swimming world due to their unique technique and training regiment. His story changed my view on swimming in its early years, but also on Adolph Kiefer, too. The final fact that I learned from this novel was Adolph Kiefer’s involvement throughout his entire lifetime in swimming. I had personally known him through his generous help in USA Swimming and his kind personality. Through this novel, I learned that his personality touched many including the Hawaiians and the soldiers in World War II. Surprisingly, many soldiers died from drowning when their ships were bombed, never allowing them to reach shore. Kiefer allowed this changed, ultimately changing the outcome of many lives. Through money he earned, he donated much of it to organizations that reduced drowning. Although, his impact of his Hawaiian friends was even more great. He taught them to fight discrimination and push through adversity to become swimmers stronger than him himself. Therefore, Adolph Kiefer and his upbringing was one of the most important facts that I learned. As a result of this book, everyone can now see that even though an individual is born into poverty, it does not mean they will be trapped in that the rest of their lives. When in reality, they have the same capacity to achieve even higher than we do, they just have to work harder to achieve when it may be given to us. If these individuals are given the chance to succeed, they will grab that opportunity and run with it, succeeding beyond the elite’s wildest dreams. Today, we never know if someone struggling financially and physically will become the next olympian, award-winning actor, or even a politician that sparks change throughout the country and world. Although, without people like Soichi Sakamoto, they cannot escape and reach their highest potential. Overall, this helped my view on how much helping those in need can really spark a new era, but also my view on the sport of swimming as a whole. The swimming community and world has changed tremendously since the middle 1900’s. Today, we no longer swim over half the events they once competed in, but added a large amount of events in addition to the events we swim today. This novel gave me an insight of what giving opportunities to those who do not know how to swim and cannot afford it looks it. It fuels my lifetime goal of extending swimming to everyone possible, regardless of the roadblocks placed in front of them. To give these children these opportunities, you give them hope, something to thrive for, and a love for a new sport. Every child and adult should be allowed to discover something they love and with reaching out to these people, we can make this come true. This also gave me a greater respect for Adolph Kiefer, who has long been apart of USA Swimming and encouraged us athletes the most. While I never got to thank him before his passing last year, I can thankfully day he will be driving point in helping my country expand swimming to everyone, in hopes of giving them the amazing experience I am receiving. The novel The Three-Year Swim Club changed my views on swimming and its past for the better and fueled me to help change how swimming is today.
1993, this was the very first year that the Worland High School Swimming and Diving Men’s program won state as a team. It all started when the pool was first built in the late 1970’s. This is where most of the young children learned how to swim and or became competitive swimmers in middle and high school. Creating basic building blocks for essential survival skill, this was a key essential for most children; from learning butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle, elementary backstroke, side stroke to our floats. From our old dome, we have created a new home. Our dome was a great impact on most children’s life including all ages, even the old. Waking up early in the morning to get to a hydro workout, to practicing two a days to get better, our dome created an environment that can never be replaced and sooner or later not a single person will even know it is gone. One of the very most unique pools in the country, the Worland Community Pool was created in a dome shape. This very organic and rusty shape was getting old indeed. Things needed to get replaced when there was no money in the budget it was a tragic ending to the pool that so much children and adults have loved over the years.
The Boys in the Boat has a shared dream of winning gold in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, but not just the gold, it is the overall satisfaction of achieving something greater than ever imagined. Many of these boys
In the book Boys In the Boat, Daniel Brown tells the story of the U.S.’s rowing team’s Olympic journey to gold in 1936. The games were held in Berlin, right under Hitler’s eye. Though the games were held in Berlin that didn’t stop Joe Rantz, the book’s main character, and his team from going for gold. The boys had to show perseverance and teamwork to even be able to row. From country boys, to gold medal winners, rowing and hardships helped them embody the American spirit of hard work and teamwork. The boys had to overcome hardships, to work hard, and they never stopped being a team in order to win gold in Berlin.
“ I can see the end of the swim lane… I slapped my hand on the tile, finished… ‘ Hey kid come here’ the ref said. I walked over expecting to get picked on about my time, ‘ I think we have a new record here… I've never seen anyone come in first place with this bad of a time before.” (Calame 345). The smallest, least athletic kid on the team, came first in the hardest race, and won the championship for his entire team. And he didn't even think he would finish the race. Teens should be able to Swim The Fly, because it teaches the reader to never give up on anything in life, even if the odds aren't in your
Imagine swimming in the big Olympic pools. All you can hear is the muffled noises of ecstatic fans cheering. All you can feel is the water urging you to keep swimming. Then you reach your hand out and feel the wall. You emerge out of the crystal blue pool water and have won! Michael Phelps and Dara Torres are two extraordinary swimmers who live their lives in the Olympic pools. Both Torres Is Tops and Michael’s Magic deal with the challenges and successes of Dara and Michael’s Olympic careers, but they do so in different ways. Let’s start our swim through the lives of these two Olympic champions.
Morace, Robert A. "The Swimmer: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994.Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Cheever, John. “The Swimmer”. Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary. 6th ed. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
The swim is presented to the reader as an enormous challenge that only the brave and desperate would face, such as a player in a challenging computer game. Diction such as ‘dangerous’ and ‘trouble’ used throughout the swim maintains the risk the swimmer must face. The line“whirled pearl smoke,'; signifies confusion which heightens the unsureness of the situation. Vulnerability becomes evident as the swimmer suffers “cunning furtive spasms.'; The challenge heightens and the swimmer is represented as an “angry isolate.'; Like a computer game special affects are added in to increase the danger such as the lightning and the darkness.
Cheever, John. "The Swimmer." The Northon Anthology American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
Cheever, John. "The Swimmer." The Northon Anthology American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
The setting of “The Swimmer” is in the suburbs, describing the aquatic adventure of Neddy, an energetic and cheerful father and husband. After attending a cocktail party, he decided that he would swim his entire way home through various swimming pools. Through his adventures, the protagonist makes a great discovery that his marriage life is a great lie. The journey from the cocktail party to his home converts him from a vibrant man to an old impoverished man whose life is in a major crisis. As he arrives at his house, he finds his children and wife have abandoned him. Different settings intertwine to showcase the middle class crisis he was experiencing. In this sense, the setting of the story clearly depicts the ignorance that people have. Neddy for instance has been thinking that he has a happy family, something that even surprises the reader who finds that the protagonist does not come into terms with the new reality of life (Cheever 93).
Ever since I was a young student, teachers knew that I was not a normal kid. These teachers saw qualities in me that they could not see in many students at that age level. They saw a child who had a profound love to know more and had the ambition of a decorated Olympic swimmer to learn not just the material that was being taught but why it is being taught and how I can I use this information to make people’s lives better. Fast-forward to today, and you can clearly see that not much has changed except my determination to learn and my love to help others has done nothing but expanded.
Swimming became a favored recreational activity in the US during the 1800’s. The occurrence of drownings intensified as water activity become more common. As many as 9,000 people drowned every year in the early 1900’s(History of Lifeguards). Once the businessmen who opened the pools and resorts realised there was an issue, they inserted lifelines. However, it became evident that these lifelines were insufficient because struggling swimmers weren’t able to clench onto them. For this reason, Duke Kahanamoku established the rescue board in Hawaii. Meanwhile in South Africa, Captain Harry Sheffield constructed the first rescue float. Although these worked for a few years, they were not the best option. A few communities stationed police officers at local water bodies to execute water rescues; However, this took away resources from law enforcement. This led to facilities hiring men and women who were trained particularly in water rescue. These individuals were labeled as lifeguards(History of Lifeguards). Now, when you attend a beach or a pool that is monitored by a USLA afflicted lifeguard, you have a 1 in 18 million chance of drowning(American Lifeguard).
One of the benefits of being part of the College of the Canyon swim team is the fact that swimming is an extremely healthy sport. Swimming is an extremely healthy sport it is a non-contact sport which is healthy for the body because the athlete is less likely to get severely injured or have permanent injuries unlike sports such as basketball and football. Another, benefit of swimming helps with strengthening. Swimmers are very healthy athletes because they constantly do cardio which allows them to be in good healthy shape, have fast metabolisms, have an incredibly strong core which results in them being stronger and leaner than most athletes. Unlike, sports like football they make the athlete bigger and stronger but, that can be damaging
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.