What is water? Some people say we can’t live without it.

We need it
for survival. It is their enemy. It is their friend. It is unpredictable
and wild, yet it is tame and inviting. Water… so indefinable. But to
me, the pool is my home, the water is my best friend, hard work is
my passion, and swimming is my life. An outsider to the sport would
call us insane for staring at a black line for hours on end, but really
it’s much more than that.
I began swimming since I was 10 years of age. I thought it would be
fun and great exercise; little did I know that I would soon be
addicted to it and never turn away. I was definitely not a natural, I
slowly worked my way up the list. I’ve been through everything you
can imagine- injuries, losses, wins, friendships, enemies, sickness-
yet I would never trade the lessons I learned from that for the
world. Truly, swimming is a great sport. At one meet you might be
ranked number one, then at the next you may finish last. It is such a
fast-moving sport.
Every true swimmer has the will to work hard and get better every
single day. It’s this that pushes you through those grueling practices
where you just want to pass out; it’s what makes you spend an
unfathomable amount of time in the pool just to shave off a
millisecond in your next race; it’s what consumes your thoughts
every second of the day to just achieve that unimaginable goal time.
This is why swimming is not for the feeble-minded. It is the most
mentally challenging thing I have ever done. You must train your
hardest to overcome your fastest enemy who may as well be your
best friend in the lane next to you. Swimming is simply unbelievable.
I can apply this to any aspect of my life which is the amazing thing
about swimming. When you are swimming a long set and feel like
you are going to drown, this is where the champions are made.
 Beneath the water is a different, complete world. It’s almost
impossible to describe every aspect of it. I feel alive under the water.
I feel free. I feel at home. I feel like myself. But most importantly I
feel that my desire for success is greater than my fear of failure.