Swim Meet Research Paper

The day of the swim meet was finally here, it was 8:30 in the morning on a Sunday and we just finished warmups and singing our school cheer. As I line up in lane four with the rest of my teammates, I can feel the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. On the starter’s command, my friend slides into the water and gets into position to start the first leg of the 200 medley relay. Everyone in the stands falls silent as the referee shouts “Take your mark!”, then the sound of the starting beep goes off and the swimmers push off into the water. As my friend begins to finish her first lap, I step onto the block and get into position. The shouts and cheers from parents and swimmers are blocked out, as I focus all my attention on the water. Once my teammate touches the wall, I jump off the block and the nerves that I felt before, goes away as my body pierces through the ice cold water of the St. Francis College swimming pool. Finishing my two laps and being able to out touch my opponent brought me a rush of excitement and pride. In that moment, I felt relaxed and relieved because I …show more content…
It may be hard to achieve these goals at first, but I learned to always stay determined and that hard work will always pay off with success. I’ve also learned to maintain a more positive attitude on life, and focus on what is going right instead of what’s going wrong. Competing in swim meets against other schools, has coached me to acknowledge failure and losses with dignity and respect. All teams lose but instead of getting discouraged, I take those losses to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses so that I may improve for the next meet. Swimming is a team effort and has taught me the importance of working with others and encouraging others to do their best. With teamwork, a family has been created with the swim team and has shown me to laugh and smile more and enjoy the good moments in