On-Demand Fall

St. Mary's Swim Meet 

  I had 6 swim races that day but these were my favorite races so I’m going to write about these ones. The early morning sun shined through the St. Mary’s pool windows like a church’s windows on a Sunday morning. It was also very cold since it was still 7 in the morning and it was also late November so about early winter or late fall. Before the first races the whole Tac swim team or mudsharks huddled up and our coach motivated us. “This is what y'all have been working up to for the past year. We’ve pushed ourselves super hard at every single practice so try your hardest. You don't have to win, just go for your PB’s.” I was super motivated since this was my first swim meet as a swimmer for Tac. (I was on the Asij ES swim team before that) “50 fly heat 6!” The announcer yelled. The announcer blew his whistle twice and we all got on the diving blocks. “Ready on your marks get set!” the announcer yelled. I gripped the block as hard as I can and went into my starting form. “BRRRRRR” The machine yelled. We all exploded off the blocks with insane power. I hit the water nice and smoothly. Just like I practiced I streamlined fly kicked until the 5 meter mark then I exploded out of the water. I rotated my arms nice and smoothly threw the water but also with extreme power and speed. “Stay in sync” I told myself. Everyone was exploding through the water with their arms swinging with full power. I kept trying to push myself as hard as I can. I reached the end of the pool, gripped the wall and pushed back as hard as I could. I could hear my friends and family screaming at me to go faster. That pushed me through the race. Just like in the beginning I streamlined fly kicked until I was right above the 5 meter mark and I exploded out of the water again. “In sync, in sync” I told myself. But when it was about the last 12.5 meters I was getting tired. But I thought to myself about all the times I had skipped something important or skipped something that my friends invited me to. I wasn’t going to just give up like that so I pushed myself as hard as I ever did and exploded through the last 10 meters of the race. When I finally reached the end I gripped the wall tightly and stopped. My arms were tired but when I looked up at the times I had gotten my PB so I was happy. Then the next race was starting so I had to wait in the water. “50 fly heat 7” the announcer yelled. “ Ready on your marks get set!” The announcer yelled. “BRRRRRR” The machine yelled and the next heat exploded off the block. Then  we all got out of the water. My PB I got that day was 39.84, now my PB is 34.67 but I was still super happy. When I got out of the pool and went to my friends they all congratulated me and it felt great. It was the best feeling I got in a long time. After that race we waited for all of our friends to finish and we went up to the St. Mary's cafeteria for lunch. Our next race was at 3:27 which was 50 free so we just went on a walk around St. Mary’s to kill some time. Then we got changed and went down again. My friend’s race was first and he got his PB so I really wanted to get mine. Since it was the afternoon now it was a bit warmer but still it was cold since we were wearing swimsuits so we were basically half naked. The announcer yelled “50 free heat 5”. “Ready on your marks get set!” “BRRRRR” the machine yelled. We blasted off the diving blocks and hit the water with a nice sound. Just like fly I stream lined until the 5 meter mark and exploded out of the water. “Right, left, right, left” I told myself. I blasted through the water till about 3 meters off the wall and flipped. I put my legs against the wall tightly and pushed off as hard as I could. Then I blasted through the water. This time I was getting tired but then I thought of the thing my mom told me the other day. My mom does yoga and her favorite quote is no pain no gain which means you have to push yourself to achieve greatness.That motivated me to explode the last 25 meters and I came in 4th but I still got my PB so I was happy which is 32.76. I was also trying to get under 33 since that used to be my PB. When I think back to these days it brings me a lot of pain since we can never do these types of things anymore because of corona. But honestly I think corona is good and bad. It's a literal living hell for the people like the people who live in France since they have a curfew and they can’t go out that often. People might think that’s not a big deal but it’s literally the same thing that the Nazis were doing during world war 2. It’s good since the earth is healing all the damage humans have caused to the earth. For example it's increasing the rate that the ozone layer is healing and it’s also decreasing the numbers of endangered species. An animal species from China called Pangolins was endangered due to trafficking them but now their species are multiplying since people can’t go outside that often. I think Corona was a massive wake up call to all humans. The other thing I want you to remember from my story is that there's always going to be challenges in life whether it’s academically, mentally or physically, the only way to overcome those things is by trying the hardest you can and that’s the best thing you can do. That’s literally life. You have to overcome things like school, your job or even your social life. But it’s worth it in the end if you look at people like your grandpa or your grandma. Most adults overcame that family and now they're just living their best life. The last thing I want you to take from my story is hard work pays off. I was barely able to swim about 1 year before that meet but look how much I improved. You have to overcome every single thing that life throws at you. In a book I read called Barefoot Gen or はだしのゲン by Keiji Nakazawa it said that wheat gets stepped on but then it grows its roots farther into the ground and grows taller. Barefoot Gen is a story about Keiji Nakazawa’s childhood and the atomic bomb. In that story His brother, mom, sister and dad all die so he’s just left with his 2 other brothers but he still pushed through all the pain and the suffering. So I think you should grow like wheat and reach your highest potential for anything.