Swimming Reflection Paper

Have you ever decided to do something different that you would not normally do? Have you ever tried something new? I had never imagined myself competitively swimming. It was so different from anything I had ever done before, but trying it was the best decision I could ever make.

My friend Amber had been part of Mingo Central High School’s Swim Team since our first year. Actually, she was the only one on the Swim Team that year. Junior year I told her I would join. Amber and I were walking in the hallway when they called for anyone interested in swimming to go to the Commons Area. Now, had I been alone I would not have gone, but since I was with her she drug me, literally kicking and screaming. I was never really a very athletic person.

Even by the end of my first season, I was nowhere near the best swimmer on the team, but I never stopped trying. Many times during my first season, I was discouraged. I can remember my first swim meet. It was at Marshall University’s Henderson Center. I was so nervous that I almost did not

Therefore, I dove into the water and swam hard. While under water you cannot really hear very well, but when I swam that lap, the entire place was cheering me on to finish my race. That feeling made me want to swim harder, faster. It took me from wanting to quit swimming to wanting to get better at it.

I had many other moments like my first swim meet but none that felt as rewarding. My new reward was accomplishing a new goal. My first goal was to stop getting last place, stop being disqualified. It took many practices and a few swim meets to meet my goal. In order to stop being disqualified, I changed from Backstroke to Breaststroke.

I had a little more struggle with Breaststroke, but I enjoyed it better. At first, I was disqualified for incorrect form, then after hours and hours of practice, I had the technique down. I still was not very fast at swimming any of my events, so that was my next thing to work on: speed. I started pushing myself harder, learning different ways to improve my speed and my form. Once I put everything together, my time improved. I even got second and third in some