My whole life I was only ever good at one sport. Despite trying numerous different games and exercises, I excelled best in swimming.

At age five, my parents sat me down and asked what extracurriculars I wanted to start doing. I said what any five year old girl would say– dance, basketball, but also swimming. At the time, we were living in Wisconsin and it was about mid November. Why was my first thought to swim? I will not ever know. Though I am extremely glad I did.

I began swimming lessons at a local indoor club for the next year. As I progressed in lessons, so did my speed and talent. After completion of all 8 levels of lessons, I was offered to join the year round competitive team. Obviously I took the spot, but was still curious about other sports.

I did dance for about a year. While I had “rhythm”, one could say, I had no flexibility or coordination. Furthermore, my dance days were short lived. Balancing the two sports was already a new challenge. Then came basketball season and I somehow made the team. Despite being a terrible runner, I managed to start the games and make a few lay-ups here and there. Soon girls began to grow, I wasn’t necessarily the tallest or best shooter on the team, so I committed full time to swimming for the time being.

Now this is the story that really did it for me. I decided to try one more sport before really giving up on being a multi-sport athlete. I tried out for softball, as my younger sister had recently joined and proved to be pretty good. Every game I was put in the outfield. At the age of 9 not many girls are hitting “out of the ball park” home-runs, so I rarely touched the ball. Nevertheless, I continued to practice throwing with my dad and occasionally hitting. During one of our games of catch, the ball flew straight into my nose. This resulted in blood, tears, and yet another failed dream.

Looking back, my curiosity got the best of me but I am happy to say I tried. I ended up winning several state titles for my competitive team and high school swim team. My trophy case will forever only be swimming, but that is perfectly fine with me. Being a swimmer has shaped me to have a strong work ethic and time management skills. I will never not be proud to be just a one sport athlete.