Now that we are officially on summer break, the best and also most people's favorite sport, swimming, is at the top of the list. Today, Carol, another high school student from WLSA Shanghai Academy, tells us some tricks to become a good swimmer like her.
Carol started swimming in kindergarten. She has been swimming for eleven years now. Swimming has definitely played an indispensable role in her development and made her who she is today. Not only does it give Carol a strong and fit body, but it also strengthens her resilience and alleviates her anxiety when she feels stressed by academic/school assignments. From Carol's perspective, a good swimmer must be passionate about swimming and willing to constantly push herself to do her best, especially in times of crisis.
According to Carol, perseverance is the best way to success. A good swimmer must constantly exert oneself and persevere. This means that someone who wants to become a practical professional swimmer must work extraordinarily hard and not give up halfway, no matter how bad the situation may be. For example, during the two closures of COVID in Shanghai, we could not go out and had to stop training for quite a while. Many of us decided to give up the sports we had been doing for many years because our bodies could not handle the intense training after we had not really moved them for three or four months. Carol, on the other hand, kept swimming after we got past the lockdowns.
“I am proud of myself for not choosing to give up. The two lockdowns caused me to be unable to train for a long time. As a result, my physical strength diminished, and my movements became deformed. After the lockdowns, my body was so unaccustomed to swimming that I suffered physically every time I trained, and it also hurt to see other swimmers surpassed me. So I added up my training times. In 2021, after the end of the first lockdown, I trained three to four times a week before the summer vacations and five times a week during the vacations. That summer, I managed to regain my original speed and overcome the original bottleneck. Although it took a long time to regain my original speed and I was twice slower than my teammates, I continued to train,” Carol says.
From what Carol mentioned, one could conclude that a good swimmer should also keep a positive attitude and not expect instant success. Sometimes it is difficult for a swimmer to make progress in a short time, so it is important to remain optimistic under such circumstances. When Carol experienced her "bottleneck" phase when she came out of the lockdowns, one reason that motivated her and kept her swimming was the encouragement from her coach.
"Coach Bao, who is now my coach, encouraged me that girls are stronger than boys because we can do better than boys even with physical disadvantages, which motivated me a lot to keep trying…”
“I believe that to persist training is the most important part to do well in swimming. However, swimming is not only about our physical strength but also we need to have standard movements. This depends on the coach’s ability. So the most important thing in swimming is to find a good coach, the other is to never give up or stop training!”
*From the Editor: I can relate my personal experience from reading Carol’s story because I have also been swimming for many years. From my perspective, I believe that passion for swimming, consistent hard work, and an optimistic attitude make a good swimmer. Just like what Carol mentioned, through years of persisting swimming, I have become more confident and an overall better person. I understand my body better and know how to keep a positive attitude when I encounter difficulties in life. I wish more people could find what they truly love and pursue it to the best of their ability. It fills your life with unexpected surprises. Thank you Carol for sharing your story!
😭💪🏻my idol
Awesome swimmer!