The environment that is most significant to me is the University of Utah swimming pool. My swim team has practiced there for three years now and every day after school, I am in the water with my teammates until 6 o’clock.
The pool was built in a two story building with floor to ceiling windows on one side and large windows ringing the top. During practice, we often look up and see people standing there looking through the windows to watch us practice. I’ve always wondered what we must look like to them.
Although I have belonged to many different groups over the course of my four years of high school, the most influential one was without a doubt the swim team. When I came to high school, I was not a very confident kid. I was small and very quiet. I had a few very close friends but I was not the kind of person to branch out and make new ones. I was also not very determined in athletics nor did I have the desire to be a successful athlete. That all changed because of the swim team. I got taller naturally but I got much stronger because of swimming.
