Now that I'm going to college it’s very likely that my competitive swimming days are over. However, the four years on my high school of my varsity swim team (and the three years in middle school) was probably the highlight of high school.

Dear Swimming,

The seven years we spent together on a team and years before that in swim lessons were probably the best years of my life. There were many ups and downs like any relationship.

The ups being, all the friends that I made from summer swim camps, to the friends on all the teams we had. I met some of my best friends through you. From talking while kicking during warm up to locker room shenanigans over the years (there were a lot of those), bus rides to meets, hanging out in the hallway before practice. Sharing a lane with the same people every day for 3 months at a time you learn a lot. Under overs, 25’s, flip turns. Most importantly the coaches I had who helped me fall in love the sport even more, and who believed in me.

The downs being, sore bodies, literally whole body, straining my rotator cuff and messing up my shoulder but that's a whole other story. During taper you have too much energy for your own good, that’s not really a down though. The different scars from falling on deck messing around or from lane lines or if I was unfortunate enough to get snapped with a cord during taper or if I trenched my ankles (never happened to me but I heard it sucks). Getting up at 5am for hell week practices. Goggle marks.

These really aren't downs though, they are the things that made those really close relays, close races, personal best times, explosive starts, fast turns, all worth the pain. Ya know, the good type of pain.

But on top of all of that sportsmanship and actuality of the sport, there was so much more to our relationship. You were there for me when no one else was and when I just needed something to take my mind off of the stressful days. You've seen me at my worst and at my best. My worst when I just want to cry either from the sets that day, or when my shoulder was in so much pain that I couldn't even breathe without it hurting me. But the best was when I just made a new personal best time or placed at divisions, or when my friends and I were acting like complete idiots in the water laughing at something that really isn't funny.

Thank you for all that you've taught me, from self-discipline to how to do a two person flip turn. All useful lessons. One of the most important things is that you'll always be there for me no matter how old I get. Swimming isn't something that you forget.

Thanks for allowing me not to be a bandwagon swimming fan during the Olympics. (No offense)

Thanks for being that sport that a little girl fell in love and kept loving and will still keep loving. I hope that one day I can help my little girl or another little girl fall in love with the sport that I did.

Love,

The little girl behind the goggles, who is now the older girl behind the goggles