Member-only story
That Time I Was a High School Athlete
Competitive swimming taught me a few things I wasn’t expecting
If you asked me if I would describe myself as athletic my instinct would be to snort in derision.
Me? I’m clumsy, asthmatic, always picked last in gym. Can’t run to save my life. (I mean yes there was that summer I played tennis, but that was more for recreational/boy crazy reasons!)
But for a moment in time I was an athlete.
I was feeling aimless my junior year of high school. My best friend had moved out of state, and while I had other friends, it’s always hard to lose a best friend.
I had dabbled in afterschool activities half-heartedly, aside from my one true love: drama. I went to a few yearbook club meetings, showed face at various cause worthy sounding clubs, mostly in aid of having something to put on my college resume.
I guess I felt like I wasn’t a joiner. And the drama club had shut me out; after my sophomore year I stopped being cast in plays. This deeply knocked my confidence. I went from starring in plays to not being cast to so much push a broom across a stage. We had a young drama teacher who took over who seemingly wasn’t my biggest fan.
