i love it.

Hey Guys! This is my first entry and I'm really excited to hear everyone's opinions!

So people have been saying that swimming isn't really a sport and that it's not hard at all. Well, obviously people have never swam a practice in their LIFE! Swimming isn't like any other sport like football or baseball...In swimming you use EVERY single muscle in your body, and not only that, you need serious skill and talent to do it. You need serious breath control, endurance, agility, speed, stamina, strength, flexibility, balance, power, coordination, and accuracy. Swimming is 10% physical and 90% mental so we can't forget the mental skills you need: self-confidence, imagination, focus, positive thinking, desire, energy management, stress management, perspective, able to set goals, and perseverance, and that's just a small list. Here is an average workout that would be about 2 hours long. Click Here to see it. And that is a pretty easy workout. Swimming isn't all fun and games and people wonder how we get injured in swimming even though its not a contact sport. Well.....the lane lines are not our friends, we lose finger nails when we hit them and break fingers when we collide hands with the person next to you. I'm sure you've heard the term "swim shoulders" well swim shoulders aren't very fun. You get tendinitis and rotator cuff impingements and dislocation and inflammation. I may not be a doctor but I know how this all feels. Here are a few funny excuses that you'll hear a lot in swimming: 1. I have a cramp. 2. The water is too cold. 3. I didn't hear the start horn. 4. My goggles leaked. 5. There's too much chlorine. 6. The water is too warm. 7. I hate that stroke. 8. I slipped on the block. 9. My feet slipped on the wall. 10. i forgot my suit. 11. I need to stretch. 12. I ate before my race. 13. The touch pad lied. 14. The waters too slow. 15. The line line bit me. 16. I gotta breathe! 17. I am kicking! 18. I can't get my cap on. 19. The pools too dirty. 20. I have to go to the bathroom! If you are a swimmer then you know exactly what I mean. Swimming isn't like any other sport out there...We don't have judges to judge us, we are our own judges. We determine how fast we swim and how hard we work. The only opponent is yourself. The only thing your racing is the clock, and that's why I love it so much. I actually can control everything and I like that power.

So this past Saturday I was invited to go to a swim clinic at SUNY Brockport with Gil Stovall, who was on the 2008 Olympic Swim team in the 200 and 100 fly. He is the second fastest flyer, after Michael Phelps of course. He sat with us and talked about goal setting and positive thinking, and he said something that really helped me. He said "To me, anything is possible, and if you aren't reaching your goals, then you don't want it enough." That really inspired me.

So enough talking about me and my experiences, share your swimming stories with me! I'd love to here them!

Hello!

My name is Ashley Dubois, I'm sixteen years old and attend Rush Henrietta Senior High School. For my Journalism class, we're required to create a blog. I decided to write about swimming, since it's my whole life. As you can tell, I'm a swimmer and have been for 12 1/2 years. My events are the IM (200 and 400) and Breastroke (50, 100, and 200.). My dad is my coach for club, and I also swim for my high school. I'll be a senior next year and I plan on swimming through college. I'm looking for scholarships for swimming or special talent passes. I shouldn't be doing all the talking! I want your opinion!!