Swimming

The countdown had begun and there were just a few minutes left until showtime. I performed some last-minute stretches before stepping up on the starting block in anticipation. I lifted my head and glared down the pool.

Bang! A cloud of smoke coughed from the gun and I soared from the starting line. This was the moment when my exhausting training would pay off. I was competing in a swim meet.

People don't swim because its fun. Ask any swimmer, most of them hate it, but they couldn't imagine their lives with out it. Its part of them, its something they live for. They live for the 5 a.m practices, pasta parties, cheers, long bus rides, invitationals, countless swim caps, the smell of chlorine, and coaches you hate but appreciate and love later. They live for the way it feels when you beat the person next to you by a tenth of a second and you know those 2 extra laps you did in practice were worth it. You live for the way you jump every time you hear a buzzer, or the way you scream whenever you hear the gun on the 500, even though you hear it every time. You live for the way you celebrate when you get to do a set with fins. You live for the way you become a family with your team, and no one understands what happens within that pool or locker room, but you. You live for the countless songs you sing in your head when you're swimming those endless laps. You live for the people who scream and cheer for you while you're swimming even though all you hear is BLAH BLAH BLAH. You live for the competition, you live for the friends, you live for the practice, you live for the pain, it's a part of you, because you are a swimmer.

It's the feeling you get at the end of a hard practice, when you've pushed yourself to the limits, and it's the way the water feels when get back in after time off, it's knowing that you don't have to shave for months at a time, and thinking of 7:00 am practice as sleeping in. Its muscle cramps, swimmers ear, and 11 practices a week. It's when your coach knows you better than your father, and your teammates are your brothers and sisters. It's seeing everyone else cheer you on during a race, and knowing your team is behind you. It's borrowing caps and sharing shampoo, going through whole boxes of cereal in one day, and blowing the fuse in the locker room four times because everyone has to get ready after morning practice. Its hearing people at school say "It must be a swimmer thing," and always having the best parking spot because you are the first one at the school every morning. It's a collection of T-shirts and ribbons, and not really being able to put into words how the meet went. It's knowing that you got up and did something you love, and something you hate, and something you can't really explain, and don't really want to understand. It's the way you walk, and the way you talk. It's something that no one else really understands because they haven't felt the feeling you get every time you step up on the blocks, that surge of adrenaline and that feeling that swimming isn't just a sport... it's all the friends and coaches over the years, all the practices and inside jokes, all the memories, all the fun times and all the road trips,

because swimming is more than just a sport, it's a way of life, its how I live, its me."

During swimming, I learned that dedication is one of the most important skills possible. During the season, our team had multiple swimming competitions all over the state of Florida. Each day my team trained to increase our speed, strength, and endurance. All the swimmers had to be extremely dedicated. I had to wake up at five in the morning