by Grace Hsu The crowd’s cheers and applause fill your ears as you and other swimmers walk into the stadium. Contrary to the thundering audience, the pool lies quietly by your feet. The clear, blue and immobile surface gives off a façade of serenity as it silently awaits your arrival. But you know better, it will soon be a battlefield overflowing with splashes and sweat that signifies months and years of exertion. Among the raucous crowds, you hear names announced through the speaker as each of you are introduced to the audience. While you could hardly decipher the others’ names from the noise, your own name comes clearly into your ears and you instinctively raise your hand and wave to the crowds. Almost simultaneously, a deafening cheer erupts from your team. Their faces are blurred due to your non-prescription goggles but you can feel their excitement just as vividly. Three short and one long whistles signal you to step onto the diving platform. You bend over to position, waiting for the call… “Take your mark—BEEP!” The final whistle sends you to leap forward. It seems that the audience had gone wild but before you can make out what’s happening around you, your fingertips touch the cool surface of the pool and rip apart the formerly calm water. The next thing you know, you are engulfed by a sense of cold but you pay no more attention to what or how you are feeling. There is only one thing left in your mind: swim as fast as you can. Nowadays, swimming is a widely known sport carried out for leisure or competition all over the world. In fact, recreational swimming could date back to prehistoric time and is found on some Stone Age paintings around 10,000 years ago. Written references can be found in the Bible, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and other books dating back to 2,000 B.C. During the following centuries, swimming was mostly performed for relaxation or as a skill to prevent people from drowning. It was not until the 1830s that swimming became a competitive recreational activity in England. Its popularity grew greater as more swimming competitions were held regularly. In 1896, the Athens Olympics included the swimming competition and the women’s division was included sixteen years later. As an amateur swimmer who participates on the department team, I understand what it is like to compete in swimming. For one thing, unlike other sports competitions where you can see your teammates or your opponent, it’s hard to tell how the others are doing when you are in the pool. More often than not you feel like you are competing with yourself instead, maxing out every ounce of strength in you just to see improvement of a fraction of a second. Although it does sound like a rather individual sport, teammates play a role no less significant than in other sports. To begin with, when the contestants are being introduced, the applause and cheers from your team greatly boosts your morale. While competing in styles such as breaststroke or butterfly, your team would cheer for you in accordance with the time your head rises above the water. They can even tip you off by a different shout that an opponent is closing in on you. Most of all, your team is often one of the most crucial factors that keeps you practicing. During times when you face the bottleneck of training, it is their encouragement that urges you to keep going. But it is true that there are things you have to overcome yourself. For example, if many fixtures are crammed in one day, a swimmer needs to compete in up to ten races without much rest in between. By the end of the day, it requires great perseverance and determination to perform just as well despite the exhaustion of your muscles. Once in the pool, only your willpower can help you accomplish the task by diminishing the feeling of weariness and spurring you to exert all your strength. Contestants usually end up totally worn out after a day’s competition. But what is it in swimming that makes so many people love it? Some say it’s the speed or the feeling of pushing yourself to the limit. Some swim for the health benefits. As for me, I would say it is the sense of freedom and relaxation when you are in the pool. The buoyancy allows you to literally move in any direction according to your will. Also reports indicate that the rhythm of the stroke, the single-mindedness of swimming plus immersion in the water all combine into a sensation similar to meditation. Water rushes past you as your body bullets forward. You turn your head just enough to gulp in a mouthful of air and your face is instantly back in the water. Your legs kick like a steady motor urging you to move forward while your arms carry out the periodical strokes so familiar to you that you don’t even need to mentally focus on it. Once in a while, as your head turns for the next breath, you will catch a glimpse of the swimmer in the neighboring lane. If he or she is still some distance away then you will maintain your own pace. However, if you realize that your competitor is so close that you can see him or her clearly that’s when you feel a surge of adrenaline pump into your blood vessels. Each stroke pushes you further than before and you kick your legs faster than ever, making great splashes like a boat leaving its white trails on the surface. As seconds pass, you can feel the strength in your muscles draining, your subconscious wails for rest, and your lungs gasp for oxygen to maintain such a high rate of energy exhaustion. Another glimpse of your competitor and you realize you still haven’t pulled away. A voice emerges in your mind, “I will not lose this race,” and with that, all of your attention is drawn to strengthening every move. There is no time to think of the fatigue your body suffers, no energy to reply to the protest in your muscles. The only way to get some rest sooner is to swim faster and be the first to finish.
Before long, the finish line comes into view. Like a foreign student who finally returns home and sees his or her family, or like a pair of lovers separated for years who are finally reunited, the swimmer dashes forward towards the end. The instant the fingers touch the wall, each drop of energy evaporates into thin air, leaving you powerless, hanging on the edge of the pool. Standing up would be impossible if it weren’t for the buoyancy, and you didn’t realize you were panting so hard. Your teammates are already there waiting for you, and judging by their exhilarated expressions you realize you must have won. Exhausted as you are, a smile lights up your face. a
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May 2024
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