Olympian Swimming Community - Essay Example

My Swimming Community Introduction A young Olympian, a young lad from far off countryside, a struggling teen trying to make a in college, a fresh high school graduate from a university, and anyone who knows how to swim – what do they have in common? Well, I may say they all know how to swim and we form the swimming community. Before I knew how education could do to my life and frame my experience into what I am today, I never thought there was such a thing as a sports community, or a swimming community. Sports and community are two worlds apart. Swimming belongs to swimmers who are strong athletes, Olympians and champions, whereas a community is a group of people who know each other and live in one geographic area. My notion of community was confined to this setting and usually my mind wandered to the rural area or the countryside with old folks and relatives doing small jobs at home. Champion swimmers are Olympians who win gold medals. To me that was a fact that was always at the back of my mind. They compete to win but are a rare kind of people and they don’t compose a community. They are single individuals, motivated and driven to win but are never living together, or concentrated in a geographic area. A community is different – it is a group of individuals with a common objective and situated in the same place. This opinion is just an opinion which later turned out to be wrong when I came to love the world of sports, particularly swimming. My swimming community As I grew older in knowledge and spirit, I came to believe that a community is not confined to a small group in one geographic location. Community and sports can be joined together. Swimmers can be one community, people who connect to each other just like other individuals with the same hobby and likes in life. Chess players socialize and connect with other chess players in far places of the globe. Basketball players play hard to get that championship trophy but they form a community of real athletes who must have the stamina, physical endurance and, above all, teamwork. Swimmers love to talk and be with swimmers. We enjoy reading the lives of Olympian swimmers, their hardships and pains, and their successes. The world of sports is as big as the world itself, and swimmers who come from all walks of life can be a community. In my younger years, few dull thoughts formed in my young mind – that I was not made to win and that I would not belong to a sports community. As I learned to swim, I realized I was part of a community, even if that community is composed of people who do not know each other personally but are just brought together because of a similar calling, hobby, goal, or mission. Ever since I was a kid, I love swimming. From the break of dawn during weekends to sunset, my friends and I were in or beside the water, at my friend’s swimming pool or at the bay, swimming was our life, the water was part of it. Swimming is also a part of student life. And swimmers have dominated my student life. Who formed the swimming community? I did not consider it a calling, hobby, or sports. I just loved to swim. Friends, classmates, relatives – they were all swimmers. In the university, most of those I know are swimmers. Many of us have made use of this sport to earn money or a scholarship. We go out and join parties. So, this is the community of swimmers, who are not living in one place but are brought together because of one and the same love, swimming. Swimming enhances stamina, or stamina enhances swimming skills. It’s about being fast and alert, like other sports. The community that swimming creates is composed of people from different areas of life – young, adults, students, and ordinary individuals. Not all swimmers compete for the sport, obviously. But all swimmers compete for life, and they are good at that. When I came to this university, my aim was obviously to study. But I have to find my own calling – hobby, pastime, curiosity, whatever you call it. What do they call it? They say it is a community that came out of a sport activity which is swimming. A community may not refer to a people brought about by a geographic setting, but it could be people with the same interest, or a group of success-oriented individuals. In sports, you always look for success. I entered into a world of competition, rather than to answer to my curiosity. I found myself in a community of believers, on what sports could do to our lives. The importance of my community Any sports activity can be considered tiresome but if it answers to the longing of the human body – psychological, physical, mental, aspirations, dreams – then it is never tiresome but fulfilling, more so if you find yourself with people of the same calling, folks who come from different areas of the globe who admire and love to participate in this kind of physical activity. Not all swimmers are Olympians and not all of them are professional athletes. On my part, I just love to swim. All the rest – money, fame, etc. – they are only an outcome of my expertise as a swimmer. They come and go, but swimming, the skill and the hobby, will never part from you. I have gained several benefits as a member of this community. People who learn to love are drawn together because of this one particular sport. Troubles and quarrels may come but we are brought back because of this one precious activity. Love blossoms because of one job or act you always love to do. When I learned to love someone, it was because of our love for the sport. Love became secondary, although now it’s a different thing. We just love to be together – while we swim and talk about love and nothingness. There is something in being together while doing the sport and being together while doing something else. It is also a different thing when many in the community join for a talk or party. We can’t party if there is no swimming pool; this means swimming and partying are one and the same, or sports is the same as partying because you enjoy what you are doing. Conclusion We can form many kinds of community – community of believers, of workers, of people with the same goal and mission, or people with the same philosophy. The world can be a single community, or thousands and millions of communities. But with the Internet, we can connect with many people in far-flung areas of the globe who have the same hobbies and likes as ours. With facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other social media, there’s no more barrier between cultures and races. We can form communities of athletes, singers, musicians, and so on – even if we are not in a single location. The world has become one even if we still see wars and conflicts. But as bloggers would say, the world is borderless and we are now living in a global village wherein we can connect to anyone in any part of the globe. Read More