Splash of Stress
Lincoln Elliott
Have you ever been so stressed out about something that your stress almost caused a game changing problem for you? That happened to me at a swimming championship this summer. I had been building up my swimming skills for an entire year between summer of 2021 and summer of 2022, not even knowing that I would be working for this moment. Back in the beginning of this summer, my club team would compete in swim meets every other weekend. My times for my 50 yard breaststroke were getting better throughout the meets, and eventually I had the best time in my age group.
The sport was something that I did for fun, and not as much for the competition of it. As I started to really get more into it, I began to enjoy it more and progressively got better at it. My swim coach told me that I would be attending a championships meet to represent our swim team, about 2 weeks in advance. I would be competing in a 50 yard breaststroke and would also be competing in diving. It was going to be a big moment for me, and I knew that. I just didn’t quite know how daunting it would be.
A week before the championships, I had swim practice every day for the week. It wasn’t necessarily hard training, but very consistent. The days went by fast, and before I knew it there was just one day before the championships. My stress levels were out of the roof, but something that eased me was a PDF with all of the swimmers’’ times on it. I was the fastest in the group I was racing, which made me feel better. On the day of the meet, I left my house early so that I could go out and get new goggles before the championships, as my old ones had broke. I acquired the goggles, then left for Palo Alto High School, where the championships were being held.
As I arrived at the pool, I saw my friend Megan that I was diving with. We talked for a couple of minutes until the diving competition started. I was in the 13 & under age group and was going to be close to the last groups diving. When it was my turn to go, my coach had asked me to do 4 different dives, a front dive, back dive, back dive twist, and inward dive. Since the nerves really got to me, I didn’t perform my best.. My front dive didn’t get enough height, and my back dive didn’t go in straight enough. My inward dive, the one I had worked on most on, didn’t get enough height either. Funny enough, the back dive twist, the one I was most nervous about and worked on the least, was the best one. Once I finished, I got my placement of third place out of five people in my group. I knew I could have done better, but now I had to put it behind me and focus on swimming.
As I finished talking to my parents and getting lots of good luck from them, I headed over to the swimmers area. I saw people from my team were there, as well as hundreds of other swimmers. There was a large area of just cement on the side of the pool that every teams tents were set up on. Everyones swim bags were lined up against the wall, and most of the swimmers were either chatting with each other under their tents or cheering on their team mates in the pool.
The events initiated, beginning with the younger swimmers then ascending in age. When everybody in that stroke swam, then it would go to the next stroke. The swimming had already started when I arrived at the deck. All I had was my swim cap and goggles because I left my swim bag with my parents. To allay my nervousness, I started to tug on my swim cap. The stretching elastic applied a fulfilling feeling against my hands, then letting go would send out a satisfying snapping sound. I continued this method and just focused on breathing. But suddenly, I heard a sharp pop and a sting against my hand. I looked down, and in both of my hands were different parts of my swim cap. It had broke. I became worried but was relieved remembering that I usually bring a spare swim cap in my bag. I ran back over to my parents who had my bag, explained the situation, then dug through my bag for the extra cap. Except for this time, it wasn’t there. I recalled that I had taken out the swim cap for extra space in my bag before the meet, so now I had no swim cap. This might not seem like a big deal, but as someone with long hair, it really helps with my speed, as any body hair slows down the swimmer.
I begin to run around, asking everybody in my team tents if they have spare swim caps.
“Excuse me, do you have an extra swim cap I can borrow?”
“Oh.. No, I’m sorry.” Tough luck. Onto the next person.
“Excuse me? What race are you competing in?”
“I’m racing in 12 and under breaststroke. Why?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
That was right before my race, so there would be no time to get the swim cap from them and then put it on in time. Maybe our coach will have an extra swim cap.
“Excuse me, Coach? Do you have an extra swim cap?”
“I don’t think so. What happened to yours?”
“Mine broke,” I explained.
“Oh, that’s not good. Have you asked any of your teammates if they have an extra?”
“Yes. Yes I have.”
“Well I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Well that was helpful. I paced around the pavement, trying to eye out someone who could possibly have another cap. My race was approaching, and I could feel more and more nerves racking up. Then finally, I spotted someone who could have one. I ran over to our assistant coach and bring it up again.
“Hi, do you by any chance have an extra swim cap?”
“Yeah! It has my name on it if that’s ok.”
“That’s fine, I just need one before my race.”
He handed me the swim cap from his bag. I thanked him profusely and then jumped into the pool to get it on. I wetted my hair and slicked it all back, then snapped on the tight cap. The younger kids were already swimming in breaststroke, so I knew that my race would be soon. I jumped out of the pool and went closer to the diving blocks. I could see our team losing points left and right. The cold breeze blew against my bare body as I shivered and raced to get under the tent where the other swimmers were.
Time passed by. It was almost my turn to go. My stress levels were higher than ever. I walked over to the swimmers area, behind the diving blocks. I strolled over to where some of my friends were and started up quick chats with them. I told them that I was nervous about the race, but they all encouraged me and said I would do great. I didn’t quite believe them, but I still took the words. As I stepped closer to the pool, I noticed all the people swimming, everyone on the sidelines cheering, and how serious everyone was taking it. And then it was my turn.
I waited in front of diving block as they called the name of the swimmers going up: “Block 3, Lincoln Elliott,” And then I stepped up.
I glanced around at my opponents. It was intimidating being up there, but I still knew that I had a chance. I heard my friends behind me cheering for me, and as I heard someone call out, “Swimmers, take your mark,” I placed the goggles over my eyes and got into position, then dove in when I heard the buzzer. The cold water embraced my skin and the rushing sounds of the pool calmed me. I stayed in my breakout and then rose to the surface of the water when I had finished it. I was racing with all the techniques I had been learning over the past week and just what I have known my whole time swimming. I reached the wall, gripped the ledge, and sprung backwards, then turned to my stomach immediately. This is a faster turn that I learned from my parents’ friend who swam in college.
As I was arriving to the top of the water for my breath after the breakout, I could hear the muffled cheers from under the water. I didn’t know if the cheers were for me, I didn’t know if the cheers were rooting against me, but they gave me a boost of confidence. I felt faster than I had been going before. I just pushed through the deep waters until I had finally reached the end. As I looked back at the other swimmers, I noticed that I was about a half a lane ahead all of them, and all my stress trickled away like the beads of water off my coaches cap as I sat there, waiting for them to get to the end. I had done it, in my second year of swimming, won a championships meet. It was an event that I had never imagined being invited to, and definitely an event I never thought I would win.
I definitely think that swimming is a bigger part of my life, especially recently. This experience shaped me into a better swimmer and has trained me to be able to handle these kinds of situations better. This escapade also made me enjoy swimming a lot more. The time that I devoted to swimming was new to me, and made me realize that I like spending time in the pool. The more that I become close with a certain activity or sport, the more that I relate it to my identity or personality.
