Special Olympics: Antelope Valley Swim Meet

Dear Diary,

I am going to tell you my thoughts on the Antelope Valley Swim Meet for Special Olympics. Let me just say that this was the last meet before the Summer Games a week later. My first thought was that I can see what kind of competition I might have at the State Games a week later because alot of swimmers who were at that meet were at State Games. For this meet...I was going to race the 25m/50m freestyle, 25m backstroke, & the relay race...that only required me to swim 25m freestyle. I said to myself..this will be so easy to win. My goal was to win 3 gold medals because it wasn't definate about the relay race until the last minute but I wanted to win 3 golds for the races I was in.

My first race was the 25m freestyle...I blew that race. I came in 4th place and got a ribbon. I was angry and upset that I started crying. I just knew I could have done better then I did but I got off to a bad start, then I choked on pool water, and felt like I couldn't breathe..had to cough it out then finish the race. Surprising enough I came in 4th place with 6 people in that race!!!!

My second race was the 50m freestyle...I won the gold medal on that event. After the first race..my coaches kept me focused for the other races. They do what they call "damage control" which means when your not happy with your performance or upset about where you placed..part of the coaches job is to keep you focused on your next race so you don't "crack" under the pressure. Surprising to me though is that the girl who took the gold in the 25m freestyle race...I was in the same race and as you know I got 4th but we were both in the same race for the 50m freestyle and I was able to beat her for the gold...she took the silver. That's just weird to me how I blew the short race but beat her in the longer one!!!!

My third race was the 25m backstroke and I won the gold medal on that event. I pushed myself on that and I was done a bit before the swimmers made to the other side. In fact...the guy that took my time on that race said "Dang girl...you hauled @ss!" I was just like shocked that he said that...I mean the way he said it. I said "Thanks"!! I started to cry because I was so happy about winning that race.

The last race was the relay. I never had to swim relay in a meet before but there's always a first time for everything so this was it for relay. I only had to swim 25m freestyle and I was first in the water. The way the coaches decide what order you swim in relay is called strategy my friends. They start it off with a good swimmer, followed by a faster swimmer, followed by a slower swimmer, and the fastest swimmer(for the relay team) swims anchor which is the last part of the race. So, like I said I was first in the water and I did ok for my first time although I was nervous. The other girls on my relay team was Regan, Lorna, and Lindsay. As a team we won the gold...pretty awesome to me because it takes team work to get it done and we were able to enjoy victory with the gold medal. Congratulations to my team mates for a job well done!!!!

So the question remains is did I accomplish what my goal was the Antelope Valley Meet? The answer is yes. I did win 3 gold medals and a 4th place ribbon. I said my goal was to win 3 gold medals but I didn't say what races I would win them in. So I did accomplish my goal and I'm happy with that!!!

That is all for now. My next entry is going to be about the 2008 Special Olympics Summer Games that were held at Long Beach State University on Father's Day weekend.

Until Next Time,

~*Kelly*~

P.S.- At the swim meet in Antelope Valley....I did alot of praying before my races but God taught me about getting "a big head" in swimming...thinking that I was going to win every race that I was in. I took a 4th place in the 25m freestyle and I was extremely upset and crying. God showed me that I need to be a good sport when I don't win. I guess I was putting standards on myself and when I didn't reach them...it really bothered me because I was trying to please other people to make them proud of me. I felt like if I didn't win...they would be disappointed in me. God allowed that experience to happen to teach me about being a good sport and I believe now He was setting me up for State Games which I will tell you all about in my next entry.