Lia Neal (Bronze Medalist 2012), Catherine Fox (Gold Medalist 1996), Columbia Swimmer Stanley Wong
For the previous ten years, swimming has been an enormous a part of my life; it, in a really distinct approach, defines me. It shapes me: my character, my character, and my outlook. Olympic swimmers might make the game look extremely straightforward, however most individuals are unaware of the time and work that have to be devoted day in and time out to attain nice success amongst hundreds of rivals throughout the nation. Between double practices, dry-land exercises, and weekend swim meets, I discover myself missing free time to do something apart from learning and homework; the quantity of sacrifices taken appear innumerable.
I bear in mind one explicit summer time, when my buddies and I had deliberate on renting out a seashore home for every week to calm down and hang around. I had to surrender that chance–one thing in any other case very doable–with the intention to preserve consistency in my coaching in order to not lose the stamina and energy that I’ve developed within the prior months of coaching. If swimming is such a time consuming life-style, then what’s it that makes me get pleasure from it? What’s it that makes me frequently aspire to grow to be a greater swimmer?
Swimming is just not with out its advantages. It retains me on a decent schedule, which helps me make choices catering to productiveness in different features of my life, and particularly in managing my time. I’ve to make sure that I get a ample quantity of sleep every day in order that I can carry out my finest in each the classroom and the pool. As a student-athlete, I prepare my schedule every day with the intention to keep away from interfering with necessary practices. Likewise, I have to additionally acknowledge the requirements: afternoon naps being one amongst a lot of them. Truthfully, with out swimming I’d have an excessive amount of time. I’d maybe make poor choices with all the surplus hours every day. Certainly, I’d be extra laid again in finishing my work and doubtless succumb to procrastination. Not solely has swimming helped me discover ways to handle my time, nevertheless it has additionally helped my psychological energy.
Getting off the bed each morning earlier than the solar rises, hours earlier than the general public round me get up, takes a unprecedented quantity of willpower. There’s not a single day the place, as I awaken to the obnoxious sound of my loud alarm, I don’t want I may simply have one further hour of sleep. However every morning, I consider my hatred of dropping to my rivals. I think about the sensation of not performing my finest on the finish of the season. These ideas give me the energy to rise off the bed able to tackle the demanding challenges of my sport. And as I stroll via the chilly daybreak, I consider my teammates who will quickly be a part of me on the pool deck, as they do day-after-day. All of us assist one another. All of us encourage and push one another to our limits and past. As a unit, we’re in a position to obtain and excel with a definite drive that I may solely ever expertise as a swimmer. Small acts of encouragement echo over the pitter-patter of swimmers coaching: “good job!” and “come on, we’re virtually performed!” resonate for the hours we give it our all within the pool. And when one in every of my teammates encourages me, I get a burst of adrenaline that helps me get via a difficult apply.
The outstanding sense of camaraderie developed via lengthy, grueling hours of coaching and mutual assist helps me achieve an incredible stage of confidence. And with this confidence, I keep mentally and bodily robust. I keep prepared for the subsequent race.
Why do I swim? What retains me on this sport, yr after yr? All of it lies in a single phrase: targets. Long run targets. Quick time period targets. They’re the explanation I’ve been swimming for over a decade of my life. They’re what retains me impressed and motivated to grow to be a greater swimmer. And whether or not it’s in swimming or in my day-to-day life, I discover that it’s essential to know the place I need to be and what I need to accomplish. In any other case, I’d be dwelling my life mindlessly. Swimming provides me targets; I all the time have a singular focus in thoughts, and I all the time attempt to succeed in and surpass my targets. And maybe most significantly, these targets are mine. I don’t swim to impress and fulfill different folks. I swim for myself, and my targets are for my self-improvement. I by no means say, “I need to win this race as a result of my coach and fogeys need me to.” And whereas the assist of those persons are paramount to my life-style as a swimmer, swimming solely for others is just not why I genuinely get pleasure from swimming. I get pleasure from it as a result of every objective I’ve happy serves as a memorable milestone that gives inspiration for the subsequent. And as I look ahead to the subsequent objective with the fervour I’ve felt for practically half of my life every day, I’ll carry on swimming.
