Ever since I was little, I have loved the water. It always calmed me to be near it. When I would go to the swimming pool with my friends in elementary school, we’d pretend to be mermaids. As I got older I still loved swimming, but I didn’t compete until five years ago when I first signed up to be an athlete with Special Olympics Virginia (SOVA). Since then, I have been a swimmer in three Summer Games competitions and have won nine medals. Though I try to learn new sports too, swimming will always be my go-to sport.
Each spring when SOVA launches their swimming program, I practice with my Area 31 team. Practices with the team are held at the YMCA once a week, but I also swim on my own there on other days, too. When I’m in the lap pool, I want to go as fast as I can. If I get tired, I let myself take a break to drink some water. I also find that switching to breaststroke anytime when I am out of breath helps reduce my heart rate, so I am not as tired. Backstroke is also similar because I feel like I don’t have to keep coming up for air as much, so I can breathe easier. As for freestyle and butterfly, my heart rate goes up higher, so I save those strokes for when I have more energy – usually at the beginning of a workout. Between the two, freestyle is my go-to stroke while I’m warming up. Butterfly depletes my energy faster so it is not my warm-up stroke!
If I have a day when I’m feeling anxious or stressed, I find swimming keeps my thoughts centered and helps me relax. “Studies suggest that because our body is made up of 70% water, our brains immediately feel at peace and have a positive response when we are in water. This means that swimming can help increase the neurochemicals in our brain to make us happier, healthier and lowering our stress and anxiety.”
What I truly love about swimming is that you can literally do it anywhere. It’s both an outdoor and an indoor sport. Because of this, you don’t have to limit it just to the summer, as swimming can be done year-round. Swimming also targets important muscle groups such as your upper body and core. Practicing certain movements like flutter kicks and dolphin kicks can help you strengthen your core. Your lungs tend to benefit, too, from this sport. Did you know swimmers tend to have stronger lungs than other athletes? “Aerobic exercise enables efficient lung oxygen uptake, making the lungs work effectively by activating large muscle groups and raising the heart rate. In addition, swimmers perform strenuous underwater exercise holding their breath for prolonged periods.” Because of this, respiratory muscles including the swimmer's diaphragm are required to develop higher pressure, strengthening those muscles in a way that other sports can’t.
Summer Games is a very exciting experience for me, but I tend to get really nervous right before I compete. One thing that I do to help myself is to put my headphones on and just listen to some of the music I have on my smartphone. I find that it helps me to tune out what’s going around me so I can focus on feeling motivated and in control of my emotions. That’s something that Michael Phelps does too when he’s getting ready for a competition! “I have walked out to race with my headphones on throughout my whole career and listen to music until the last moment possible,” he told the Guardian in 2005, just after winning six gold medals in the Athens Olympics. “It helps me to relax and get into my own little world.” Phelps is my favorite Olympic athlete! Over the course of the five Olympic Games that he’s been to in his swimming career, he has won 28 medals – 23 of those being Gold! He even started his own organization, called the Michael Phelps Foundation, whose mission is all about working to promote healthy, active lives for people by expanding the opportunities of swimming. He has also helped out with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of America and Special Olympics.
Another thing you may not know is that Phelps has battled with feelings of depression in the past and encourages others who feel the same to seek help. Phelps isn't alone in feeling that way. While nearly 12% of women in the United States received mental health treatment in 2019, just 7% of men did, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Phelps hopes those numbers will change. You can watch him here too as he talks more about his journey with depression: Michael Phelps's Interview on the Today Show. The pressure of swimming added a lot of stress to Phelps' life but, for most of us, swimming can be a great way to relieve stress and extra tension.
One of my goals as a swimmer is to take after Phelps and make it to the Special Olympics World Games stage one day. Because of having a goal like this, It has given me a sense of purpose in my life and a will to keep going no matter what.
Out of all the things swimming has taught me, the most important lesson I have learned is to be patient with myself, especially if I’m working on a stroke that’s really hard. During this past June at the Summer Games, I competed in my very first race doing butterfly. It was the 25-meter butterfly, and I came in first place in my division, taking home the Gold. My advice for people who want to learn a new stroke is not to get discouraged if it doesn’t look or feel right the first time! Just keep practicing until it feels natural to you, and you are happy with the results. Remember, you can do anything you put your mind to, especially if you put in the work that is required.
If you don’t have a go-to-sport yet, I definitely recommend choosing one. Because I chose swimming, it has made me a much stronger person, both physically and mentally. For that, I am grateful. By choosing a sport, it will do the same for you.
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2173511515001979
4. https://www.today.com/parents/dads/michael-phelps-depression-therapy-saved-life-rcna64239
