Swim Final

Ariel Rafalian

Advanced Swim

Final

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this class. I had just recently graduated from high school and thought this class would be like my swim practices. Unfortunately, I must say, this class was much more fun than I ever thought it could be! Coming from a varsity swim team with hectic practices to this class, which has a relaxed feel to it, created an environment suitable for refining my strokes and getting better at my own pace.

I pushed myself a lot in this class while trying to get back in season shape. I knew it would take a lot of work, especially since I would only be swimming twice a week. I never thought I would enjoy myself this much while getting back in shape. I made some good friends including Nick and Maverick as well as maintained my sibling-like relationship with April. This class was not only a place for me to have fun and become a better swimmer, but to also make new friends and integrate myself into the college life as well.

I learned a lot of knew techniques that I had never encountered during my varsity swim years. This included lots of stroke drills that made me feel like a beginner again. It took me some time to adjust, but I eventually got the hang of it. One thing that was new to me was going through the motion of a flip-turn when finishing a 25 yet not pushing off. I had never done that before but I understood why we were doing it: to get in the habit of going into the wall strong before doing our flip-turn. What I really enjoyed learning was the backstroke to breaststroke flip-turn. That was probably the most challenging thing we did the whole semester for me. At first, I was scared to even come to close to the wall. Then I got over that fear at began to master that turn. I still have a lot more practicing to do with that flip-turn, but now I have a good foundation to build on. Thanks for that coach.

There was nothing I did not like about this class. It was...