Swimming :: essays research papers

The sun sleeps as the desolate city streets await the morning rush hour. Driven by an inexplicable compulsion, I enter the building along with ten early(a) swimmers, inching my focusing toward the cold, dark locker room of the Esplanada Park Pool. One by one, we slip into our still-damp drag suits and make a mad dash by dint of the chill of the morning air, stopping only to grab pull-buoys and kickboards on our way to the pool. Nighttime temperatures in coastal California dip into the high forties, besides our pool is artificially warmed to seventy-nine degrees the temperature differential propels an eerie chromatography column of steam up from the waters surface, producing the spooky ambience of a werewolf movie. close comes the shock. Headfirst immersion into the tepid water sends our hearts racing, and we respond with a quick set of warm-up laps. As we finish, our coach emerges from the fog. He offers no friendly accolades, just a rigid regimen of sets, intervals, and exhor tations. Thus set forths another(prenominal) workout. 4,500 yards to go, then a quick shower and a five-minute drive to school. thence its back to the pool the afternoon training schedule features an additional 5,500 yards. Tomorrow, we start over again. The objective is to cut our times by another ordinal of a second. The end goal is to achieve that tiny, unexplainable difference at the end of a race that separates success from failure, greatness from mediocrity. Somehow we behave the pitch--otherwise, wed still be deep in our mattresses, slumbering beneath our blankets. In this sport, the foe is time. Coaches spend hours in specialized clinics, analyze the latest research on training technique, and experiment with workout schedules in an attempt to defeat time. barely there are no shortcuts to winning, and workouts are agonizing. I took part in my first swim race when I was ten years old. My parents, fearing injury, order my athletic interests away from ice hockey and into the pool. Three weeks into my new swimming endeavor, I somehow persuaded my coach to let me enter the annual date group meet. To his surprise (and mine), I pulled out an A time. I furthered my achievements by winning Top 16 awards for various age groups, setting companionship records, and being named National First team up All-American in the 100-Butterfly and Second Team All-American in the 200-Medley. I have since been elevated to the Senior Championship level, which mode the competition now includes world-class swimmers.