Author's Note: This is a Personal Narrative piece that was based on the prompt "Did something I now do every day." I worked on improving my introduction. To improve my introduction I opened with a setting.
I sat on the wooden ledge of my neighbor’s pool as I gazed into the clear calm water. In my eyes as a two-year-old, the pool was intimidating, although it looked like an enormous bath tub. I wanted to jump in so badly! Instead of jumping in I stuck my "little" big toe into the water. I never knew, after that moment I stuck my toe in the water, how much "big bath tubs" became a part of my life.
Shortly after that, I turned 3 and I started swim lessons at Healthbridge Fitness in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Once a week, for two years, I was overly excited to go to swim lessons. Every week when mom brought me to Healthbridge, I eagerly jumped into the pool to learn how to swim all those strokes that I saw all the big kids swim. I will never forget the day that I gave my “lady” instructor a bloody nose. It was the first day that my group got to swim in the "big pool" and learn the backstroke. The instructor told us to push off the wall and do three strokes on our back. After about four people I was next. I placed my little hands on the wall crouched my legs up to my chest and accelerated backwards. Immediately after I pushed off the wall my head collided with her nose. She clasped her bloody nose, jumped out of the pool and scurried to the locker room. Because I was just a 4 year old, I didn't think anything of it, except that I gave her a bloody nose. Now, 9 years later, I realized that she was the one who stood behind me and said, "push off the wall."
The winter after I turned 5, I joined my first competitive swim team. The name of the team was The Woodstock Dolphins. Over the years of swimming for the Dolphins, I improved my strokes and my times. I will never forget when I heard the elongated whistle blow. I stood on the starting blocks and I grabbed the front of the block when the official calmly said, "take your mark." As the loud beep from the starter buzzed in my ears, I jumped forward off the block and sprinted down my lane. I was so nervous because I was swimming next to one of my best friends in lane 6. I was gunning it in lane 7. I did my final turn and exploded off the wall. In that instant, I had no idea that I was out in front of everyone else. As I touched the wall and looked up at the scoreboard, I found my name and ran my eyes across the board. My time read 1:22.17. I placed first in the group I was swimming in but not sure of where I place overall in the event. I was so nervous! I walked slowly toward the podium not certain of what place I had received overall. They called off 8th place, and then 7th place. By the time the announcer called off 3rd place I was really kind of disappointed because I thought didn't place. Then all of a sudden they called my name for 2nd place. I was ecstatic! They honored me with a red rose and slipped a second place medal around my neck. For a minute, I felt like an Olympian. Over the next two years I had no idea what my future swimming plans would be because the swim team was collapsing. I was crushed!
Then something amazing happened. Last year my family had to move to Wisconsin because of a job opportunity for my dad. Lucky for me because that meant I was moving to a new swim team too! But where was I going to swim? I really wasn’t sure what we would find in southeastern Wisconsin, and I was hoping there was a better swim team out there for me. Then my dad found it! They called themselves “Express”. I was so nervous the first day I swam with the new team at a meet in Wisconsin. When I arrived at the meet, the coaches were very welcoming and the swimmers were kind. July marked my one year anniversary with the Waukesha Express team and in just over a year, I have made astonishing accomplishments. One that I am most proud of is my 22nd place finish at the Wisconsin State Meet in the 100 Meter Breaststroke. I felt pretty awesome after I had such a fantastic finish.
I never had thought that the day I stuck my “little” big toe into the pool that I would come so far in swimming. I am so glad that I took up swimming as a sport and one day I want to make it into the Olympic trials and maybe make the USA Olympic team. Look out here I come!
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