Sonic here with a question: What's your swimming story?
Here's mine...
My story begins in late March of 2004, when there was a void in my life. Something was missing, but what? It had been ten years since I last swam and about four years when I last saw a pool. My life was to a point where I couldn't carry on anymore. I decided to take a long hiatus from College as I felt I was only chasing my own tail and felt like I wasn't going anywhere. In the mid to late 90s, I had to quit swimming because of special eye surgeries to control my advanced Glaucoma, which has been stabilized ever since. Of course, this depressed me, since I thought I would never see a pool or be in the water ever again. :(
By early April 2004, I asked myself an important question: "When was the last time you really went swimming?" After asking myself this, I realized what was missing in my life and started making research on local pools on my own. When I announced to my family that I wanted to start swimming again, my mother was concerned that I would run the risk of an eye infection (since I have open inscisions on both my eyes, right under my eyelids.) I assured her that with the right pair of goggles, the risk of an eye infection is minimal.
Three weeks later, I bought two pairs of Speedo's and the rest of my equipment.
Monday, April 26, 2004 will have a very special place in my heart and memory, for on that very day, after a ten year hiatus, I took the plunge and started swimming again. I was reintroduced to the beauty and joy that is Swimming and wanted more. I didn't want to stop there and I wanted to fulfill my dream of competition.
I knew it was going to be a long and winding road before I started competing. By mid May 2004, I knew if I wanted to compete, that I had to join a team. I had never heard of Masters Swimming before, but knew that somewhere out there, there was a team for adults just like me.
After making several Yahoo! searches, I discovered usms.org and learned about Masters Swimming and the hope that there might be a team in my area.
After making my search in this very site, I was overjoyed when I discovered that there was an LMSC in my area. After placing some calls with questions about joining, I got the ball rolling into a new direction.
On Sunday, June 20, 2004, I Joined USMS and on Wednesday, July 7, 2004, I received my USMS # and membership card. And know what? Life's never been the same.
Tomorrow, April 26, 2005 will mark one year that I started swimming. As a way of celebrating, I plan on attending my first swim meet this Saturday! What better way to say happy first anniversary than with a swim meet?
Swimming saved my life and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.
Parents
Former Member
I want to thank Mark and Tom for sharing their wonderful thoughts on this thread.
I went swimming today and had a wonderful swim! From beginning to end, it's always wonderful when I'm in the water.
I also want to say that everyone here in the USMS Discussion Forums have been very supportive to me ever since I joined last summer with concerns about what to expect from this wonderful organization that I call home. You're all like family to me because I can cheer about a year's worth of swimming (Exact date included) and get great feedback, which to some may sound uninteresting and trivial.
I look forward to sharing my experience in my first of many meets. I've dreamed of competing ever since my days in high school, but due to lack of fairness and to a certain degree, respect, I was deprived of the opportunity of any competition.
For me, swimming has a wonderful meaning:
The joy, beauty and asthetic feel of smelling the chlorine in your skin after a wonderful swim. The feel of the soft water as it flowes past you, so tenderly and gently, almost like a sweet caress that says everything will be all right.
The support of team mates during workouts and competitions: The fact that there is no such things as "losers". If it took you five minutes to swim that 50 m fly and finished dead last, you're still a champion because of the effort and courage it took for you to show up to compete in what might be your first meet. Never measure accomplishments by size. It's the effort that truly counts.
I want to thank Mark and Tom for sharing their wonderful thoughts on this thread.
I went swimming today and had a wonderful swim! From beginning to end, it's always wonderful when I'm in the water.
I also want to say that everyone here in the USMS Discussion Forums have been very supportive to me ever since I joined last summer with concerns about what to expect from this wonderful organization that I call home. You're all like family to me because I can cheer about a year's worth of swimming (Exact date included) and get great feedback, which to some may sound uninteresting and trivial.
I look forward to sharing my experience in my first of many meets. I've dreamed of competing ever since my days in high school, but due to lack of fairness and to a certain degree, respect, I was deprived of the opportunity of any competition.
For me, swimming has a wonderful meaning:
The joy, beauty and asthetic feel of smelling the chlorine in your skin after a wonderful swim. The feel of the soft water as it flowes past you, so tenderly and gently, almost like a sweet caress that says everything will be all right.
The support of team mates during workouts and competitions: The fact that there is no such things as "losers". If it took you five minutes to swim that 50 m fly and finished dead last, you're still a champion because of the effort and courage it took for you to show up to compete in what might be your first meet. Never measure accomplishments by size. It's the effort that truly counts.
