I moved into my fathers Senior Group at 14, the summer after my 8th grade year. It was a new experience swimming in the senior group. I remember one experience very vividly though, as I remember being very shocked, and it set my view of what was expected of me now at this level.
So first let me explain that we trained in a small pool, and the lanes were very skinny. There wasn't a lot of us in the group, but we still shared lanes and had to circle swim.
We were doing one of the main sets that we did all the time in the senior group (4 x 400 Free style pull descend 1 - 4, the intervals changed depending on the lane you were in). So, we have pulling gear on; pull buoy and paddles, and we are going on this set. I'm focusing a lot on pacing myself as I want to be sure that I am descending the set, and I wasn't able to change my kick speed (my favorite tool of controlling my descend set) as it was a pulling set.
I am swimming down the lane, and my scrawny long arm is peaking over the lane line on occasion with these brand new paddles (a size larger than I had ever used). On the 3rd 400 pull I am passing Heidi who was swimming in the other lane. Heidi was attending Junior College, and was a Junior National level swimmer, so I had a good deal of respect to her. I smacked her in the face with my paddle because my arm had come over the lane line. I stopped, as it wasn't just a graze; it was a smack. I looked over to say sorry that I hit her. I here my father yell, "Kacy! what are you doing stopping?" I glanced back at Heidi, and noticed she didn't even break stride when I smacked her. I didn't respond to my father, just put my face back in and picked it up.
I got back to the wall. I was ready to say sorry, but she left on her final one, and she never even seemed to care that I had just smacked her in the face with a paddle.
I learned very quickly, nothing stops you from achieving your goal; even a practice goal. When you get smacked you just push on through like it never happened because you have something that you are trying to accomplish. My time in the senior group, I got hit and smacked all the time. The group never was as small as when I first joined the group, so it happened more often as I got older. I played it as Heidi did, you just keep going, no matter how much it hurt. That soon translated into other parts of my workout. There were times when I got back into the water and there was no reason for me to try to keep up with some of the other guys in my group, but I did. It hurt, but I had learned that despite the pain, you pushed through to accomplish what you want to do.
That was my welcome to the senior group moment, and it helped me as I grew into a senior group member.
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