Hi there, this is Big Sis and I'm going to tell you all about my season long adventure in the Kaiserslautern Kingfish Swim Team.
I'm first going to tell you about the day I did my try-outs for the team. If you look back at my FSY post, this story picks up 5 minutes after that post. After being stuck on a hot bus, stranded at a bus station, tired, hungry, and exhausted, I was just happy to be in the car, expecting to be driving home (TLF). But what I didn't remember was that I had tryouts for the swim team. Mom only told me this when we got to the pool. I quickly got on my swimsuit and did 50 meters of all the strokes. Just keep in mind that I had almost no energy (due to being stuck on a bus all day in the heat), I was sick (with a cough and something else), and that I was super out of practice and shape. But to my great surprise, I made the middle team, the white group. I was the oldest person in that group just by a few months, but I am just grateful that I even made the team. I made some great friends while going to swim meets and during practice time.
As a high schooler, we were given an options to go to a weight training class at the Ramstein High School. So, every Tuesday and Thursday, I would go with my friends, Giulia (far right), Payton (left), and Shannon (second from left) to the weight training class because even though it is a Kaiserslautern swim team, us 4 were the only students that went to Kaiserslautern high, while most of the other swimmers went to Ramstein high.
Weight training was so much fun to go to. It was really hard some days, and I was almost constantly sore, but it was all worth it because I, in almost no time, was one of the strongest swimmers in my group. No matter how many swim meet I attended, I was always so nervous the day before and the day of the swim meet.
My very first swim meet of the swim season was outside, and I was so happy that I had one of my friends from FSY, Katie Adams, that was on the swim team with me. We enjoyed playing games while we waited for our events.
We went to 3 home meets at our pool, and 4 that weren't home meets. One of those swim meets was the Berlin Divisional's (another post if you'd like to read about it). As much as I really didn't like how often the practices were, I really enjoyed the time I spent in the pool because it was fun. I was pushed past my limits and I did things that I wouldn't have even done in any other swim team that I've been on before.
I did many easy swims such as 50 meter freestyle, and even though it was easy, I pushed myself to get the fastest times that I could. However, the hardest swims that I've ever done is a 200 Individual Medley (which is doing all the strokes that occur in swimming and doing them all in one race). I was always so afraid to do that event in the Korean swim team, but I found out that event was one of my best and I ended up doing that 200 IM over 6 times throughout this whole swim season.
One of the other hardest swims that I ever did was the 400 Freestyle, and the 100 butterfly (one of the hardest strokes in swim). As much as I absolutely hate swimming those events, I was so proud of myself at the end of each of those events. One of the upsides of going to weight training was that I was able to not only improve my form, but also my speed to my new ability to have a stronger stroke. My favorite event had to be the 100 breaststroke.
Since I was an older swimmer, even though I was in the white group, I had to race up against the swimmer in the older group, the blue group. I do have to say that even though my practices weren't as hard as theirs, I did manage to beat a couple of them in a few of my events. It was also fun to do a lot of event because some people got ribbons from their events. I got like 15 "beat your original time" ribbons, and I did manage to get 4th place on the 400 freestyle, and 5 place on the butterfly, and 3rd place for a few other events. That was rather accomplishing for myself. I love swimming because it is a sport that I love doing. I have to say that I think I have this love for swim because of my mom. She was also a swimmer and I think that I got the swimming joy from her. I was super excited because she became an official for our team late on in the year. It was super fun having her right in front of us when we did our events.
M&M was on the swim team with me too. However, she didn't enjoy it the same way I did because she would always complain at the beginning of every practice and I don't think that she is going to do it next year (shhh don't tell I said that. She might get mad. LOL!).
I really enjoyed this 2 1/2 season long adventure at the Kaiserslautern swim team. I am definitely doing this again next year. I did enjoy making new friends the most.
As a high schooler, we were given an options to go to a weight training class at the Ramstein High School. So, every Tuesday and Thursday, I would go with my friends, Giulia (far right), Payton (left), and Shannon (second from left) to the weight training class because even though it is a Kaiserslautern swim team, us 4 were the only students that went to Kaiserslautern high, while most of the other swimmers went to Ramstein high.
Weight training was so much fun to go to. It was really hard some days, and I was almost constantly sore, but it was all worth it because I, in almost no time, was one of the strongest swimmers in my group. No matter how many swim meet I attended, I was always so nervous the day before and the day of the swim meet.
My very first swim meet of the swim season was outside, and I was so happy that I had one of my friends from FSY, Katie Adams, that was on the swim team with me. We enjoyed playing games while we waited for our events.
We went to 3 home meets at our pool, and 4 that weren't home meets. One of those swim meets was the Berlin Divisional's (another post if you'd like to read about it). As much as I really didn't like how often the practices were, I really enjoyed the time I spent in the pool because it was fun. I was pushed past my limits and I did things that I wouldn't have even done in any other swim team that I've been on before.
I did many easy swims such as 50 meter freestyle, and even though it was easy, I pushed myself to get the fastest times that I could. However, the hardest swims that I've ever done is a 200 Individual Medley (which is doing all the strokes that occur in swimming and doing them all in one race). I was always so afraid to do that event in the Korean swim team, but I found out that event was one of my best and I ended up doing that 200 IM over 6 times throughout this whole swim season.
One of the other hardest swims that I ever did was the 400 Freestyle, and the 100 butterfly (one of the hardest strokes in swim). As much as I absolutely hate swimming those events, I was so proud of myself at the end of each of those events. One of the upsides of going to weight training was that I was able to not only improve my form, but also my speed to my new ability to have a stronger stroke. My favorite event had to be the 100 breaststroke.
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