This past week in my life has been spent watching the Olympic trials in Omaha, and 13 years of chlorine-induced memories have managed to sneak their way in. Since the day I moved to Florida, swimming was my whole family's life. My sister and I swam while my parents sat through hours of swim practices and meets, trying desperately to give us advice that we would never listen to because they never knew what they were talking about (sorry, Mom and Dad).
Throughout my many years of swimming, I really only had two opinions about it at any point in time. Opinion one was “I hate swimming and I want to quit.” This feeling usually came about on the drive to swim practice and during winter. The second opinion was, “Wow, swimming makes me feel so wonderful! I never want to quit.” Although this feeling came about less, it usually occurred when I got a best time or was used as an example for good form at swim practice. Swimming is something that every single swimmer has a love/hate relationship with and they would be lying if they disagreed.
Swimming is an amazing sport for many reasons. It is a great way to beat Florida summers, it is so entertaining to watch and it is so exhilarating to have a best swim. The high received from dropping time at a meet and feeling that rush of energy when you touch the wall and look up at your time is something that can never be beat. I would give anything to bottle that feeling up for those days where nothing is going right. Getting out of the pool and getting to walk up to your coach knowing that you are about to get a pat on the back and a congratulations for reaching a goal that you worked every day for is magical. This feeling is something that every swimmer knows, and can never be replaced. This is the most rewarding part of being a competitive swimmer.
While I do have to admit that swimming is not all bad, I do still have to say that it has its downsides. As I mentioned previously, swimming in the winter is never enjoyable, even if you are swimming in Florida. The biggest problem for me when it comes to swimming, however, is...swim meets. Yes, I did just say that the best part of swimming happened at swim meets, but the meet itself is pretty terrible. Sitting in a tent outside for hours at a time while sitting in uncomfortable lawn chairs surrounded by hundreds of people only to swim for a few minutes and move right back to the tent is nightmare-inducing. The worst part of all of this is that even after I quit swimming, I still find myself back there and questioning my decision every single time.
Swimmers are a dedicated bunch, and that can never be taken away from them. I love swimming and although I may not do it anymore, it will forever hold a huge place in my heart. Swimming is never something that you escape from, because you can take the swimmer out of the pool, but never the pool out of the swimmer.
