Personal Narrative: Water Polo

When I was a young girl, I spend all my summers in the water. Whether I was at the beach, or at my local swimming pool, my hair was always wet. My love for the water influenced me to join the swim team when I was only seven years old, and I was a natural. I spent all my time trying to improve and be the best that I could be. When I started to grow up, my love for the water did not vanish. I still wanted to be in the water all of the time, and since swim season was only in the winter, I had to get into the water earlier than that. So, I joined water polo in middle school. My love for that sport flourish and that become what I wanted to do.
When I first started I was pretty good, I played a lot for the middle school team, and decided to play

More was expected of me in the big games, and I was completely aware of this. Getting into the big games became more of a usual thing. I would get to play in each varsity game, and was no longer needed on the junior varsity team. Yet, that still was not enough for me. I wanted more. I wanted to be one of the first six starters and prove myself. I knew I was young, but I wanted to play as much water polo as I could. Sophomore year, I think I did. I played about half, maybe less of each game. I can not complain about my playing time since I was an underclassman, and one of the only underclassmen to even touch the

After junior year, my love for the sport had left me. Being one of the “first six” was really more of a problem for me than a solution. I had so much weight on my shoulders, now that I did not want or need. I felt as though I was playing under a microscope for all to watch and judge. I was not able to do anything wrong anymore, because if I did, we could lose the game because of me. Way more was expected of me this year. “I had my time to make mistakes, this is the real deal now.” I felt like I was drowning in pressure, doing something that I loved. The fun from the sport was also gone. I was not allowed to laugh and talk at practice most of the time, since I was supposed to be their to win a state title, not gossip to my friends during the water breaks or in between