My Days as a Swimmer

Arabella Chiang

Ms. Asuncion

English 9H

1 October 2015

My Days as a Swimmer

Everyday would start the same, my mom coming into my room screaming at me to get up. I would roll out of bed and run downstairs to stuff my face with food, then hurry to go get dressed in my purple and black swimsuit. I’d stuff my legs into the holes and pulled it up to get my arms through to get dressed, and ready to go. My dad would always nag when I put on sunscreen in the house because I liked to use the spray bottle kind and it would get everywhere. This meant that I had to go outside to put on sunscreen, and it became annoying because it was always extremely cold in the mornings.

After getting myself ready, I would ask my dad to drive me to practice because it was on his way to work. Practices were always boring. All you do is swim lap after lap after lap. I thought the best part about swim team was the meets on Saturday mornings, even though sometimes I would have to get up at five in the morning for races. My parents would always complain about who would take me to the Saturday meets, since no one wanted to wake up that early. In the end my whole family would all come and support me, even my older sister which was a huge surprise.

Every time it was my turn to race, a tingling sensation would jet through my body. It would start for the top of my head and shoot down to the bottom of my feet. Adrenaline would start pumping through my veins, and excite me for my race. When I stepped up to the edge of the pool I would take in a deep breath inhaling the chlorine filled air. The starter would shout, “Swimmers take your marks!” When the buzzer sounded, “BEEP!”  I would dive into the pool head first allowing the icy cold water to submerge my burning hot skin. Soon I would start fluttering my feet like birds flapping their wings up and down, and hauling water with my arms. I was a king, the water parting allowing me through without a problem. My heart vibrated in my body, echoing through the water. Almost to the other side of the pool, I would come close to the wall tuck in my body into a ball, turn, and push off the wall. Every time when I finished a turn I’d always run out of breath, feeling like my chest would explode. Usually when I had that feeling I would pop my head out of the water, turn my head to the side, and take in a huge breath. Pretending there’s a shark behind me, I start to move my arms and kick my feet trying to swim away. As soon as I neared the wall I reach my arms out as far as they would go and stretching my whole body forward. When I finally touch the wall my head would pop out of the water like a jack-in-the-box. After I would pull off my really tight goggles making me look like a panda bear, and my swim cap letting my brain breathe. The sun shone down on me burning my skin as I waited for all the swimmers to come into the wall. All the roars of cheers get louder and louder, making my ears bleed.

People would start screaming, “Swim faster, reach for the wall, touch the wall, come on you can do it!”

 Finally when everyone gets to the wall I would turn to my left and right to shake hands with the other swimmers, saying, “Great job, you did great, good race, you were amazing.”

After everyone got out of the pool, the water would splash all over the place, and made many of the parent volunteers wet. I would make my way over the team area and chug down some water to rehydrate for my next race. Later on my coach would come up to me and ask what my time was, and tell me what I could do better next week. After everyone’s races were finished I would go back into the pool and help take out the lane lines, goofing off with my teammates. I would always go back home with a smile on my face and feel extremely tired. Who wouldn’t if you had to wake up at five and not be home until ten? After I get home I would take a nice, long shower to relax. As soon as I get out I would pass out in my bed, until my parents come poking at me to get up. These days were great; nothing to worry about, and everything was fun and exciting. What could be better?