You just gotta love that smell...

Growing up and throughout my childhood, water was never a thing that I learned to fear or stay away from, but actually quite the opposite.  From as early as I can remember, swimming was a passionate hobby for me, and as I grew up, it became a love affair.  Now in the norms of competitive swimming, I started late.  Very late actually.  My first year of competitive swimming did not actually occur until my freshman year of high school, while most of my team mates had been swimming on teams and practicing to best times all their lives.  Now just because I was a relative beginner in the world of swimming competition, didn't mean I wasn't any good.  Like I said before, swimming had always been a passionate hobby for me, and some of my earliest memories had to deal with swimming lessons at our local pool in the early morning; my mom dragging me out of the warm serenity of my bed and into the cold, yet refreshing, chill of the placid water.  And of course, how could I forget that ever present odor of fresh chlorine wherever I turn, and that constant sound of splashing and yelling.  Arrival at the pool always meant the days first bold move as well; jumping in to that stark water and out of the sleepiness and fatigue that has enveloped your body from a night of peaceful rest and relaxation.  It is a feeling that many would connect to annoyance or disparity, but I learned to love that rush of adrenaline and the burst of energy and motivation that would follow and lead you into the swim practice.  The water was now under your control, and the motion of your body never felt so free and fluid.

Over time, this trigger would mesh with the memories of my high school swim team, and all that encompassed it.  Chlorine is a smell that, even today, triggers all the emotions that I can remember from my competitive swimming days.  The squeak of the locker room floor from wet feet, the constant sound of rushing shower water, and the chill of your body when it was time to eventually jump into that ice-cold pool. My earliest memories coincide so nicely with my memories now that I have with swimming, so I definitely will be using them in my essay as a trigger to either begin the paper or bring it to a clean and summarized end.  My story and timeline in this sport is very unique in that I did not start at until I was older, but at the same time, had been doing it all of my life.  I think that is what makes my relationship with swimming so special, and why my various memories and triggers will draw the reader in and hopefully relate to the emotions and events that I am portraying.