Kylie Garcia
January 25, 2011
WDYDWYD?
Arts Arc 10
Because My Sister Was My Inspiration…
I had grown around a pool deck since I was 3 years old. My sister Jordanne was 8 when she joined the local swim team. I went with my mom to watch her at every practice and competition that she went too. At practices, I would be running up and down the concrete bleachers looking for the pine cone seeds to collect. For meets she was a fierce competitor! Watching her swim was a big part of my life. So when I turned 8, it was my turn to join the swim team. I didn’t want to choose another sport; I just wanted to be like my big sister. The older I got, the more into swimming I became. I learned how to be a good competitor, and racing was my favorite part of swimming. All the years I had watched my sister swim had inspired me to be just like her. I followed her examples and footsteps on everything. She was like my sideline coach; she encouraged to me to do well and work hard. When she turned 17, her asthma took her out of swimming. It had gotten so bad, that she had passed out on the pool deck, and the coaches had to revive her. Even though she couldn’t swim anymore, she kept pointing me in the right direction. She came to most of my meets, and cheered me on for all my races. She always gave me advice; such as breathe every other stroke in butterfly. Or kick this many kicks off the wall. You don’t know how to dive, let me show you. When I quit swimming at age 17, Jordanne was one of the people to convince me to pick up the sport again. She told me she wished that she didn’t have to quit, and she missed swimming a lot. And that I shouldn’t be giving up something I’ve worked so hard and long at. Once again, she inspired me to keep trying in swimming. She was there when I qualified to go to Omaha, Nebraska for Olympic Trials, and even watched me online for my race. Because my sister was my inspiration, I have kept swimming through ten long years.
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