Swimmer Out of Water
competitive swimming
In the Begining
I have always been a better swimmer than most, even in swim lessons at the age of 2. But I didn’t start swimming competitively until my mom forced me to the summer after 3rd grade. The team I un-willingly joined was a summer league team called the marlins. At first I was shocked my mom would do something like this, but within the first couple practices I fell in love with my team and the sport itself and have stuck with it ever since.
Nitro
this is the first competitive year round team i swam for. this is their logo.
Marlins
this is the first team i ever joined, but they only swim in the summer
Practice Makes Perfect
I’ve had a coach tell me that practice doesn’t make perfect but perfect practice makes perfect in other words you can’t practice bad technique or don’t come to practice often you can’t expect to get better, faster, or stronger. I have come a long way since I started swimming. To prove it I have gone from practicing twice a week to practicing twice a day. I work really hard in practice on all four of the strokes; butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. In practice the stroke we work on the most is freestyle because it is the simplest and everyone who swims knows how to swim this stroke, but we also work on our best stroke a lot which for me is sadly the hardest stroke, butterfly. Most people say butterfly is the hardest stroke because it requires the most physical strength and is the most tiring. This is why me and all other swimmers have to practice a lot; to stay in shape so we are still able to swim all these strokes fast and correctly.
butterfly
this is a girl swimming my best, but not favorite stroke, butterfly
breaststroke
this man is swimming my worst stroke, breaststroke.
freestyle
thisn is a girl swimming my favorite stroke, and the simplist, frrestyle
It All Comes Down To This
swimming isn’t all practice we have meets just like all other sports have games. The difference is instead of just two teams playing each other for a little over two hours we have a lot of teams meet in one spot for a whole weekend and swimming is an individual sport meaning most of your events you swim alone in your own lane racing up to seven different people but you are only relying on yourself. There is the occasional relay which is when you are in a team of four but that is the only team effort in a swim meet. But this isn’t all meets are about, they really make you nervous because thousands of people can fill the stands some of those peoples are collage scouts and all eyes are on you and seven others as you step up to the block and prepare to swim.
backstroke dive
backstroke is diffrent from all the other strokes because it is the only stoke you swim on your back. that is why the dive is diffrent.
dive
this is how you dive off the block for butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle.
Backstroke
this is my second best, and one of my favorite strokes, backstroke
My Life in Swim Today
Now, swimming takes up most of my time after school. I have had a lot of friends that also swim tell me “you have four choices –a swim career, good grades, a social life, and enough sleep… you can pick two” and I couldn’t explain how true this is. But I love swimming, and I have gotten really good, in fact at the last state meet I took home 15th place which is really good when you are competing against the best of the best in the giant state of Texas. The swim meets I go to now are so much fun but they are also a lot more competitive, I get to travel all over Texas to compete, and I get to swim in a lot of different university and collage pools. I am hoping to go to Olympic trials when I’m seventeen, which for me isn’t that farfetched of a dream. My times are really, really close. And this is why for the next four years I will train more often and make my practices as perfect as possible. Wish me luck!
dolphins
Round Rock Dolphins is the summer league team i swim for now.
AquaTex
Auqa Tex is the year round team i swim for now.
I don not own any of these pictures. i borrowed them all from google images.