I couldn’t stand up. My legs felt as if they didn’t work and I could barely breath. This was the greatest feeling I’ve ever experienced. I knew I had just gotten my first high school swimming gold medal. I looked over at the scoreboard to confirm my realization. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I found Central York on the scoreboard and saw the number two next to it. I was in complete shock, we had lost by a hundredth of a second. As I walked to the podium I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that it was all my fault. I keep running the moment through my head. Anthony Gemma coming into the wall finishing off the breaststroke leg of the relay, barely trailing behind Red Lion. I stand on the back of the starting block, ready to dive into the …show more content…
The stands lights up like a christmas tree as parents and friends capture the moment. All my negative thoughts about losing quickly disappear and once again I’m bursting with joy. As I reach the podium I congratulate the other schools and hug my relay mates. Over the speaker the announcer yells, “Congratulations to the Central relay of Ben Chu, Anthony Gemma, Jared Hicks, and Ben Fisher.” As my name is called my coach shakes my hand and says congratulations as he puts the medal around my neck. At that moment hundreds of different feeling rush into my head. I’m filled with joy as my first high school medal hangs from my neck. My dedication, hardwork, and time I’ve put into this sport all hangs on my neck with this medal.
As I step down from the podium I make a promise to myself that I will never allow myself to be in a position like this again. I promise that I’ll never let my team and myself down again. In my head I tell myself I’m going to get stronger and faster to ensure myself that I find the podium many more times in the future. I want to never be forgotten, I want to be stenciled in our teams history. I can picture swimmer after swimmer, year after year looking up at the record board, and seeing my