RE: Bad sporting memories: Forgetting all my training at the most important moment
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I didn't know swimming was one of your sports as a kid. It's so demanding but is a great sport for kids, as they learn about discipline, early starts and breathing techniques. That stuff stays with you for life and probably helped in the soccer and basketball too.
I think in any sport, when you start concentrating too much on the opposition, you can pay the price. I imagine swimming even more than most, as it is so technical. 11th in your state was still a great achievement man, and if you had stuck with it, who knows what you might have done, but such is life.
Lovely gesture by the coaches getting you the ribbon - its the little things.
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Thanks buddy. Before they moved into a smaller place my parents had a shrine of sorts dedicated to their children's sporting accomplishments. I had a lot of trophies and awards in my section but I think those two ribbons are the ones I remember the most.
I didn't put this in the article but one of the other swimmers in the same competition who was older than me and was actually with a competing team sought me out to console / educate me. He went on to be one of the truly great swimmers in our state and nearly qualified for the Olympics. I thought it was a nice action on his part. He was actually the first person to tell me that I threw the race away but he didn't do it in a condescending way. I think he was a bit disappointed in me when I didn't ever come back to compete. I went on to do pretty amazing things in soccer though and I would have destroyed him in every aspect of that game :)
It's amazing how important those small subtle things can do for a kid, fair enough you didn't pursue swimming, but you pursued other sports and to a high level, yet that little act of kindness has stayed with you all these years.
There's a lesson there for us all, that it's not all about 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc, but moreso about each child and what it means to each of them, especially when they are young and so impressionable. One disparaging remark or comment can put them off a sport for life and equally acts of kindness can do the opposite.