The bed mercilessly taunts my exhausted limbs to return but my determined heart persuades me to brave the trial by water once more. As I dive over the ice cold pool, dread and regret fill every moment until my body finally makes contact. For two, sometimes three, hours the situation will only worsen as I repeatedly raise my arms above my head and pull back as hard as possible. Weeks of this pass by, all for the sake of being able to travel through 100 meters of water a few milliseconds faster.
Swimming has been my primary sport since the age of eight. The aforementioned training regime was a necessary price to pay if I ever hoped to improve and outperform peers, and I stayed dedicated to it from the beginning. Because of this, I grew accustomed to the ring of the victory bell and the satisfying validation that came from it. However, after many years of relentless training and competition, what has taught me most is not the split-second touch of victory, but the long stretch of perpetual failure. At the age of sixteen my athletic improvement became halted without explanation in a sport in which the sole purpose is to outperform the athlete you had been in the race before. Robbed of all that gave it purpose, swimming was now void of joy …show more content…
I sat down by myself and reflected. After tens of thousands of hours of devotion, swimming has become a huge part of who I am, and will no doubt shape the person I will come to be. One of the earliest lessons swimming taught me was to never give up. When I was 9, swimming taught me to fight the fatigue during lap two of a race. When I was twelve, swimming taught me to attack race two with everything I had, even if race one hadn't gone my way. At 14, swimming taught me to give just as much effort in meter 375 as I did in meter 1. Most importantly, swimming taught me that nothing special is accomplished without confidence. Quitting would leave a void in me, only to be filled with
Swimming has been my primary sport since the age of eight. The aforementioned training regime was a necessary price to pay if I ever hoped to improve and outperform peers, and I stayed dedicated to it from the beginning. Because of this, I grew accustomed to the ring of the victory bell and the satisfying validation that came from it. However, after many years of relentless training and competition, what has taught me most is not the split-second touch of victory, but the long stretch of perpetual failure. At the age of sixteen my athletic improvement became halted without explanation in a sport in which the sole purpose is to outperform the athlete you had been in the race before. Robbed of all that gave it purpose, swimming was now void of joy …show more content…
I sat down by myself and reflected. After tens of thousands of hours of devotion, swimming has become a huge part of who I am, and will no doubt shape the person I will come to be. One of the earliest lessons swimming taught me was to never give up. When I was 9, swimming taught me to fight the fatigue during lap two of a race. When I was twelve, swimming taught me to attack race two with everything I had, even if race one hadn't gone my way. At 14, swimming taught me to give just as much effort in meter 375 as I did in meter 1. Most importantly, swimming taught me that nothing special is accomplished without confidence. Quitting would leave a void in me, only to be filled with