Week 6

I don’t know if any of you have watched the TV show Dragon Ball. It’s a Japanese anime show starring a character named Goku. I was a huge fan from the ages of twelve to fourteen and I used this show as motivation for swimming. So for those of you who have watched it, Goku, the main character, is a martial artist that, in simple terms, strives to be the best and most powerful martial artist. He had no limits and was always getting stronger and more skilled because he constantly trained and pushed his body to the max in order to meet his goal. That is the motivation I used when I was young. third image from here

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This is embarrassing, but when I was super into the show, I told myself I was the real life version of Goku, in terms of having no limits. I did exactly what he did: I never skipped practice, both morning and night practice, and I pushed myself hard everyday because I believed I had no limits. Despite the sore muscles and exhaustion, I desired to be the best of all my friends and pushed myself extremely hard every opportunity I got. I found that when I thought I was Goku, and had no limits in terms of swimming, I was constantly getting faster in swimming. I had a swim meet basically every month, and at each swim meet, I was dropping, at minimum, twenty seconds for every event I swam, even the events I am not good at simply because I had built my endurance in the pool.

When I got older and realized that I am not Goku, that is when I stopped trying as hard as I can at every practice, my speed in the pool steadily got slower, and that was a mistake, obviously, since I again have the desire to be the fastest I can be and to be the fastest.

I think the moral of this story is that you should strive to push yourself hard every time that you’re in the water because that is how you will get better. When I was a senior in high school, I offered this advice to my friend when she asked “how do you go so fast?”: “Don’t skip practice, and push yourself as hard as you can everyday.” I am evidence that practicing like Goku works, not just in swimming, but in any sport. Jut like in running; if you want to get faster at running, you have to push yourself more when running. The most important thing to remember, however, is that you have to want it. You have to want to achieve your goal of being the best if you are going to make it. And the good thing about this goal is that it is never ending. You may achieve the goal of being the best with your friends, but there will always be somebody faster or better that you should be aiming to be better.