When I was eight years old, I joined the Shaker Sharks swim team. I was put in the lowest group and struggled to swim even a 25. I considered swimming a hobby at best, not even realizing it was a sport. Two years later, my family and I moved to Solon. I switched teams to join the Solon Stars Swim Club. The environment was far more competitive, which I noticed immediately. I was also beginning to understand the value of a team, a support system greater than oneself. One time at a meet, I had been entered to swim the 100 butterfly. I had never swam more than a 50 before this, but I gritted my teeth instead of scratching the event. When I stepped up to the block, I saw a few swimmers with the same striking blue and red swim caps as me at the other end of the pool, but didn’t think anything of it. During the race, I could feel my limbs growing sore and my lungs aching to breathe normally again. Above the deafening splashes of water around me, I picked up a different sound: cheers. “Go! Go!” Yelled the Stars swimmers that I had never talked to before in my life. They screamed for me at the end of my lane knowing that I was going to get last place, knowing that I wasn’t trying to swim fast but just trying to survive. That’s how I made it to the wall. It just shows how much the Stars family means to everyone in it. A couple of older swimmers had identified me by my suit and cap, and that was all …show more content…
The friends I’ve made through the Stars program will be my friends for life. The hard work I’ve been through makes me a stronger person today. Swimming has taught me that challenges are nothing when you have loved ones by your side. My freshman year the upperclassmen used to always say: “Bring honor to the family!” It sounded out of place back then, but now it makes sense. The Stars family really is a family. Not only do we have a lot of fast swimmers, we have a whole lot of heart that can’t be found