Maybe I should give myself some credibility.
Just because I swam for 14 years, doesn’t mean a damn thing. I could’ve sucked ass at swimming. So why would you listen to me, right?
LET’S GET TECHNICAL
Let me explain how competitive swimming works.
Often times, swimmers start their swim careers on summer league teams which are swim teams based out of public neighborhood pools. That’s what my brothers did and eventually that’s what I did. It wasn’t very long until I was the fastest girl in my age group, soon turning into the fastest girl on the team.
There were 3 different championship meets that are at the end of each summer session. One of which was Red, White and Blue. This was for moderately fast swimmers who had specific times for specific events. Another was All-Stars which was for the kids who were a little bit faster than Red, White and Blue qualifiers. Lastly, the meet that I always competed at was Ponderosa. This was a meet that required a swimmer to have one of the top times. I placed 1st and 2nd for the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle races for many years. From the age of 6 all the way up until I was 10 years old, I was consistently qualifying and winning these championship meets. I still hold records for the Eagle Springs Flyers which is so surreal to me considering the fact that I am 22 years old now.
Once summer league wasn’t a competition for me anymore, I was recruited onto a club team. I swam for a USA Swimming club team called Eagle Swimming Association (ESA). I was extremely nervous for change at the age of 12. But I honestly think that was the best move I could’ve made for myself because I continued to improve my times which led to me competing at a higher caliber.
On USA teams athletes train within certain age groups and then get divided up based on speed, technique and experience. Practices for ESA were much more advanced than summer league practices.
I was no longer competing at outside public pools but rather natatoriums that could hold thousands of people. This is the point where I came out of my shell and really showed my full potential which I was unaware of at the time.
TAGS was now the championship meet that I was competing at. TAGS stands for Texas Age Group Swimming. University natatoriums were where championship meets took place. I was in awe of Texas A&M’s natatorium but University of Texas’ natatorium is where I always did my best. (Yes, swimmers blame the pool for how good they do)
HARD WORK PAYS OFF
As a freshman in high school, I made the varsity swim team which was a huge accomplishment because usually swimmers have to work their way up to that spot from junior varsity. I made sure that I put as much effort into my school work as I did into swimming. That led me to achieving All-State Academic all 4 years of high school!
(Pats myself on the back)
Happy Health With Allie 