It was early fall, 2013, when I was sitting alone on the bleachers during the first practice of a new swim season. I had recently leveled up, so I didn’t recognize anyone. As I looked around at my new teammates, I noticed all around me, kids were sitting together in groups laughing with their friends. I pulled my knees to my chest, feeling nervous and alone. No one seemed to acknowledge I was there. A couple minutes later, a young woman with long reddish-brown hair stepped out of the coach’s office. She was wearing a Michigan State sweatshirt and a pair of shorts with a logo that looked like an elf and an elephant. I would later learn it was a Billiken, the emblem of the college she went to, Saint Louis University. She cleared her throat …show more content…
She looked at me for a second, before smiling and saying, “Nonsense. This is your swim family. Go over there and make some friends.” She started to nudge me over. I saw there was a lane with only four people in it, so I asked one of the girls if I could join them. She gladly replied with yes. At first, I was really slow, but under Christina’s help, I became faster in swimming. She stayed after practice with me and taught me how to improve in my freestyle, my diving, and my flip-turns. It was hard work, and we were both exhausted after practice, but she told me if I kept this up, I could go to meets. After all of the training sessions, I felt ready to go to a meet. I was extremely nervous, but since Christina was there to help me, my nerves eventually calmed down. Before every race, she would help me and give me advice. After every race, she would come over and congratulate me as well as show me where I could improve. This cycle happened at every meet. Then, one day, I heard some news from Christina. She said, “In the middle of every season, there is always a huge meet called Junior Olympics, where all swimmers on all teams and ages come together to race. Many will compete, but few will qualify for Finals. I think you are ready to compete and make