Moving from Maryland to California meant that I had to find a sport. I never chose swimming; my parents did. Although this arrangement was involuntary, it was one of the best decisions of my life. Swimming has taught me the importance of discipline and training, as well as the importance of patience.
Starting in third grade, I had always played baseball. While I truly enjoyed baseball and playing with my friends on the little league team, things changed, and the sport became dull. Eventually, as I got older, my parents decided to switch sports to swimming. I joined a local club team, and shortly after, began practicing.
When I first began swimming, I wasn’t exactly a natural. There is a phrase called the “natural swimmer.” The natural swimmer has a feel for the water and knows exactly what to tweak to minimize drag and increase propulsion in the water. I was not one of those swimmers. As I started taking a few swim lessons and attending practices more often, my overall form and feel of the water became better. I started moving through the water more efficiently instead of spinning my arms and going nowhere like before. While some of my elementary school classmates and friends thought that it was extremely mundane and boring to swim endless sets at the pool and stare at a black line for two hours, I found it active for my mind. Swimming gave me peace, as it was silent in the water. Sometimes I would sing in my head or think about what I did that day while doing the sets.
The grueling pain of aerobic sets is something that other sport’s won’t bring me. The rewarding feeling of pain but progress is what drives me in this sport. The intense training combined with the quiet world of water is a unique experience that is rare to find.
I met my first friend, Jonathan Wong, taking swim lessons at waterworks. During my club practices, he would motivate me to keep up and try harder, since he was a year older and stronger than me. Jonathan and I have since faded in contact ever since he moved away. However, I believe that every person needs a Jonathan in their life, a reminder to keep trying, a motivator to keep pushing.
If there’s one sport a person cannot fake their way through, it’s swimming. There’s a saying that if you miss one day of practice, it takes you two days to regain form and feel for the water. If a person doesn’t come to practice at all, and still tries to do good at the competitions, swim meets, they will not see good results at all. I enjoy that no-nonsense, clear cut aspect of swimming, and it motivates me to try and to come to practice each day.

A whole different aspect of swimming aside from the usual day to day training are the competitions. From an early age, I grew to embrace the nerves before each race instead of letting it consume me and affect my performance negatively. The art of balancing being nervous about the race as well as having the competitiveness to win became something that I came to enjoy. Reaping the benefits and sometimes seeing results (getting faster) is something that I will always cherish. So thank you, swimming, for the competitions, training and memories.