Swimmers, Take Your Marks by Lauren

Swimmers, Take Your Marks by Lauren - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

I fell in love with swimming at three-years-old while watching The Little Mermaid. If there was ever a pool nearby, you could bet that I was in it. Swim lessons at six-years-old turned into swim team at twelve, and before you knew it, I had found my passion. Participating on a varsity swim team is peculiar as it is a team sport just as much as it is an individual sport. Training for swim meets was quite isolating as I had hours to ponder my own work ethic in the white noise of water splashing over my head. How badly did I want this? I could taper my workout and have an easy day, but how would that impact my performance two weeks from now at the swim meet? In a sport where hundredths of a second count, every hour in the pool dedicated to training is easily revealed. The perseverance and time commitment required to train six days a week, and working through the frustrations at having done all this hard work only to drop three tenths of a second has built up my character in ways I never thought imaginable. I learned the hard lessons of humility, felt pride and gratitude while competing in two CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Championships, and carried the honor of representing my school whenever I stepped onto the diving blocks.

Competing in Southern California CIF Championship was a big feat for the few individuals and relay teams who qualified; it was an event that one spends all season preparing for and dreaming about. The second year I competed—my last year of swimming competitively—provided a huge lesson in compassion and humility. Our relay team was disqualified because our anchor false started by a tenth of a second. From one minute celebrating our second place position to the next moment being told that our relay was disqualified was crushing. Instead of leaving the pool with a sullen team, I pulled my teammates into a huddle. This was my chance to help them see the bigger picture rather than our momentary loss. I reminded everyone of how our collective hard work brought us to the finals and how we should not retreat into our individual disappointments, but that we should celebrate how blessed we were to even be competing in the finals. It was this moment that I united our team by showing them the character we built in getting to this point was a more important success than any three-and-a-half-minute race. Participating on a swim team proved to be more than living out my childhood dream or setting a personal record for my school. It taught me to harness the driving force of willpower, the importance of a team and the support it can bring, and the ability to see the potential of growth in the midst of loss. I believe these lessons and characteristics will help me take on the challenges of school and succeed in my career.