Patrick Guo

I remember despising athletics solely because of my hyperhidrosis. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy playing basketball with my friends or going for a solo run, I would always look like I went for a swim instead. So that’s what I did in 10th grade: I joined swim. It really wasn’t a hard choice; somehow most of my friends were swimmers and I needed to make up for my lack of a fast metabolism.

The first practice I went to brutally showed how athletically inept I was. Toward the end of practice, we were to dive off the blocks and time ourselves for a 50-yard freestyle. As soon as I dove off the block, my calf muscles spasmed. It was the worst pain imaginable, both uncontrollable and unstoppable. I remember going home that night wanting to quit after just one practice. Thank god my parents didn’t let me because I ended up making even more close friends and growing closer to the ones I knew already, some of which I still hang out with here at UGA. I trained the hardest I could have and in just one year, I was able to make the state team cut. Funnily enough, I swam that state-cut 23.45-second 50-yard freestyle in the same pool, the same lane. I remember looking up at the time and feeling a wave of emotions wash over me: thrill, pride, and relief. “Can’t believe I cramped out not even a year ago and now I just made the state cut.”