Good Afternoon Coaches
After each end of season meet I like to go over what I did,
what I didn't do, and why. And this time I came to a revelation. I learned the
worst part of this sport, when you don't do well, whether you base that on
holding your breath into the wall or whatever number the scoreboard feeds you,
it is your fault; yours, not the person next to you, and not your coaches.
Yours. You can't sit there and have a pity party because Jack didn't pass you
the ball or Jim struck out. You can't find blame in others for a fault you made
in your swim. But is this a curse or blessing? Yes, swimmers know better than
anyone else it sucks not having anyone else but yourself to be mad at, but it
is a blessing. The reason that swimming is such a progressive sport and the
reason we are able to make the improvements we make is because we are able to
find out what WE did wrong and we can fix it. It takes out the
excuse of saying "I don’t need to change anything; if we want to win
Jack needs to pass." There is an element of accountability. And when you
take responsibly for yourself then you can finally swim the way you want.
Everyone on our team reaches the physical necessity of
swimming fast, very few people in the world can complete the workouts with the
same vigor our team does, but the difference between the people that are
succeeding the way they want to and the people that aren't is their mental
capability. And as much as I hate the comparison between my sister and me, I
have to make it; we go to bed at the same time, we swim the same amount of time
and do the same workouts. So why am I left behind as she does amazing things in
swimming? Why can I scrape minimal times off my swims while she can take chunks
off? - Our mental fitness. I know this is something, along with many others, I
need to work on in swimming, and that is why I am emailing you. You have been
doing this a few more seasons then I have, and I am coming to you for help. I
am devoting myself to be solely in your hands. You tell me to do something and
I will work my best to do so. And hopefully doing so will allow me to complete
the goals I set in August.
Thank you both,
Sincerely,
TK
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