Many times in a swimmers life they feel like they want to quit. Sometimes, Natalie Coughlin used to want to tell swimmers to give up "Get out, now, before this sport devours your body and spirit. Trust me. I know" (126). The toll swimming takes on your mind, body, and spirit, can be overwhelming. Some people would quit just to get away from it all. One of Natalie's teammates, Lauren Medina, used to think the same thing. She said "So many times I just wanted to quit. I felt like I was beginning to burn out. People who I used to beat were now beating me, I swam lousy in meets and my parents started getting down on me: 'You just don't want it bad enough' At least twice a day I would think about quitting" (136). When you aren't dropping a lot of time, one may have these same thoughts. Pressure from your parents doesn't help either.
Often what helps someone not quit is a good coach. Medina said "Teri was so supportive...She said everybody makes mistakes. You're not the first person this has happened to... I felt really comforted by that" (137). Teri ended up keeping her in the sport and helped her improve. Another time Lauren thought she couldn't breathe and wanted to stop in the middle of the set. Teri said "Lauren, you're having a panic attack. It's OK; you're going to be fine. Trust me" (134). Her helpful words calmed Lauren down and she continued swimming.
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5 comments:
This is interesting. I like your thoughts on support and how it is really essential. I don't know where many people would be today if they didn't have the support of their family to keep them going through whatever they are going. It sounds like your character is going through a tough time right now in her decisions on whether to keep swimming? Good job.
I think your take on all of this is really interesting because you are a swimmer. I agree with Natalie Coughlin and Lauren Medina on how sports really take a toll. Even though skiing is only a winter sport and I am not olympic caliber, it can be overwhelming. I also agree that having a good coach who is supportive of you as a person as well as you as an athlete, the experience is much better. My ski coach is like that and it makes the practices so much more fun and worth while. Natalie and Lauren's stories go to show that having fun with something, combined with hard work, leads to success.
I really enjoy reading your posts because you have perspective on what you are talking about. This is very interesting and we see the bad side of swimming. I find it rough that the parents were down of Natalie and I feel that in anything this intense you need to have a strong supportive force behind you. It seems like Natalie is expieriencing a rough time in her career adn it will be interesting to hear more about it's effect. NICE JOB.
I am interested by the story, as it seems to show a more realistic life of an olympic athlete than people normally see. It is a good thing she kept swimming, but the decision must have been hard for her.
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