When thinking about what to write for my blogs, it wasn’t that hard for me. I knew I wanted to talk about something that was dear to my heart and that I was very knowledgeable about. One of the first things that came to mind was swimming. If you have not read my other blogs, please go check them out to learn all about swimming’s physical and mental benefits, the history and training of swimming, and a new problem with swimming rules this year.
Anyways, swimming has been in my life for around 10 years. When I was 7, I decided that I wanted to try out swimming for the first time on a summer swim team. The pool we belonged to did not offer a summer swim team, so my parents helped me by switching to a different club just so that I could try it. I am so thankful that they did that, because without them I may have never started swimming.
I fell in love with the sport of swimming that summer and I never wanted to stop. I participated in almost every sport you could name, but for some reason the one I loved the most was swimming up and down a little black line for 2 hours. Throughout my swimming career, I have been on the Wedgwood Swim Team, CIA Swim Team, Dunlap Dolphins Swim Team, River City Swim Team, Mt. Hawley Swim Team, Arrowhead Country Club Swim Team, Peoria Area Water Wizards Swim Team, and of course the Dunlap High School Swim Team.
Swimming has taught me more than anything I’ve ever participated in. Swimming has taught me to be mentally tough. When I was younger, every time I swam breaststroke, I got disqualified. It was a big pill for me to swallow because I had no clue what I was doing wrong and could never seem to fix it. But those incidents taught me to never give up and to keep mentally challenging myself to get better. I also had to learn to use my time efficiently. Throughout high school, I had morning and night practices. I had to learn to juggle swimming and school. Although I often got stressed and frustrated, I thank those experiences everyday as it’s how I learned how to effectively manage my time.
Swimming is also where I made lifelong friends. Club swimming is an individual sport, with a team backing you. High school swimming is a team sport, with an individual drive to win for your team. The long practices and many hours spent at meets would have been boring without the many friends I made. Some of the girls I’ve been swimming with since 5th grade I still swim with today. The high school team became not only a team, but a sisterhood. Waking up at 5 A.M., the late practices, the team outings, and the many dance parties we had, I will greatly miss.
As I approach Sectionals, Saturday November 16, it's very bittersweet to me knowing that this is the last time I will ever be competing as an Eagle. Knowing that Friday will be the last time I will ever practice in the Dunlap pool. Knowing I might never be competing as a swimmer again. I decided not to continue my swimming career in college as I didn’t want the pressure of being a college athlete. Even with this said, I do plan on continuing my swimming career, at least with practices, by joining the club swim team. I couldn’t imagine life without swimming as it means so much to me. It’s crazy that in two short days I will go from being a high school swimmer to a high school swammer.