Personal Narrative: Assistant Head Pre-Team Coach

It wasn’t the position I wanted, but a job is a job, right? At least, that’s what I told myself then. Assistant Head Pre-Team Coach is a very flashy title, but really I was just teaching kids how to swim. The first few days were hard; the water was so cold. These tiny 5- and 6-year-olds can’t keep themselves warm while in the pool, so the first week of practices were all very brief. Honestly, I would rather have been at home, sleeping, eating - doing homework, even - than in the water, but I had signed a contract, and a deal's a deal, so there I was. One big part of my job was running the 25m kickboard race during ‘halftime’ of the wednesday night swim meets. I had helped out in the years before, but running the show is a very different, …show more content…
In the split second between the start and when they hit the water, I remembered my first kickboard race, years before. I had been so excited, because I was finally doing something the big kids could do. And it felt amazing. So when this nervous little boy hit the water and started kicking, I smiled and cheered for him. There’s something empowering about others cheering you on; you feel energetic, forget why you were so nervous, and you just swim. This kid felt it too, and he kicked his heart out as he raced his teammates for the wall. Getting out of the water, I was so happy, perhaps more so than the kids, because I finally understood the real purpose of my job - to help these kids find their love for swimming. So I didn’t complain about working after that, and I enjoyed every single moment of the swim season. Then, suddenly, swim season was over, and I didn’t know what to do now that I didn’t see my pre-team every day. And it was then - and only then - that I truly appreciated how much I had enjoyed working with those kids. Now, I am planning on applying as Head Pre-Team coach, and I couldn’t be more