As most of AHS knows, I was a swimmer participating on both the Aspen Swim Club, and the Aspen High School Swim and Dive teams. Now, I only swim for the high school team.
Swimming was my life. I swam with my club from 4 pm to 6 pm every weekday, and 8:30 am to 11 am on Saturdays. In the winter, I added an hour and fifteen minutes on top of that in the morning with my high school team. In my Freshman year, competing for Aspen High School Swim and Dive, I placed 20th in the 500 freestyle at the CHSAA State Championship in February of 2023. A year later, I placed 10th in the 500 freestyle and 12th in the 200 freestyle at the 2024 State Championships. Swimming was my passion and a part-time job. It became my purpose – to get faster, more skilled, and more focused – to make Zones and Sectionals, high-level meets above the state level.
While my decision may seem abrupt, there are many reasons why I chose to quit club swimming.
Even though I wasn’t planning on swimming in college, I still trained. I trained hard. So hard that, in November of my Sophomore year, I developed what’s called Bicep Tendonitis in my right shoulder. It would hurt for me to move my shoulder in any way. When I moved a forkful of food into my mouth at dinner, it hurt. When I would lay down on my right side to go to sleep, it would hurt.
I chose to miss practices to let myself heal, but Michael Phelps once said, “When you miss one day of training, it takes you two days to get back.”
His quote haunted me when I would miss practice to heal, and while it did help my shoulder for a little, the pain would always come back.
I thought, ‘Why would I miss practice if my shoulder is just going to feel bad again? I might as well keep swimming.’ So I did. I chose to swim through the pain.
At the end of 2023, in December of my sophomore year, I got COVID-19 from a high school swim meet. I experienced and still continue to experience Long Covid. Not only did I have a cough for months, but I was also a victim of Covid weakening my immune system. This caused me to get sick almost every month until April of 2024. But yet, I chose to swim even when wasn’t fully recovered. My choice resulted in my sickness lingering for much longer than it should have. I missed tons of practices and felt guilty for everyone I missed. Missing practice but being unable to attend practice flooded my mind. It bothered me that I couldn’t do anything about it; I just had to wait for the sickness to pass.
Both my shoulder pain and weak immune made swimming duller. Due to missing practice so often, I did not see much improvement in my times, and it made me feel terrible in the water. I started to dread practice and projected my dread onto my teammates. I would complain to them, “I want to go home,” “I can’t do this,” and “I’m going to quit.”
Not only did I dread practice, but I also wasn’t able to do things that other girls my age did. Practice ended at 6 pm, so all I would want to do after practice was eat dinner and go to bed. I would constantly fall behind in school work, miss sporting events, say no to sleepovers, and miss out on other activities in the evening. I found myself telling my friends, “No, I can’t, I have practice,” or “I’m too tired, practice was hard,” when given an opportunity to do something in the afternoon.
Near the end of my Sophomore year, I occasionally opted to skip practice to attend social events. I felt guilty not attending practice, but forgot about that when distracted with other activities. It was freeing to be able to attend Spring sporting events, spend time with my friends, or even simply stay home and work on homework I had put off.
When school ended, My days got even more boring. Without school filling my mornings and afternoons, I found myself sitting at home doing almost nothing. During Summer break, my days looked like this: Wake up, eat breakfast, wait for swimming to start, swim, eat dinner, go to bed. Although I could have done some more exciting things, and I occasionally did, it was hard to find activities to do and fit them around my practice time. 4 pm to 6 pm practices limited the time and things I could do during the day.
Every year, the Aspen Swim Club has an annual break from swimming in August. They partially have this break because the ARC is closed for cleaning, and partially because the swimmers need it. Club swimmers’ bodies continually train all year around, (with occasional holiday breaks) so they need to have time to rest and heal. This August break gave me the opportunity to have more stereotypical summer days. With this break, I could go to the pool and lay in the sun, or have dinner with my friends.
With the August break encouraging me to go out more, I went into the Clubs Fair with the intention of joining clubs and actually attending meetings. In past years, I have signed my name of the sign-up sheet, but I never showed up to any meetings. I realized that as a junior not planning to swim in college, I need to figure out what I truly want to do with my life in the future.
Under these circumstances, I ultimately chose to take a step back from swimming. It was a hard decision, but I chose to put myself first.
However, I still find myself checking up on what happened at practice, seeing how my teammates did at a meet on Meet Moblie, and watching swimming clips. I will continue to represent the Aspen Swim Club, stay friends with my teammates, and cherish the memories that came with competing for the Aspen Swim Club.
So, if you are thinking about quitting a sport you play, or thinking that the commitment is too much, assess the situation and go with your gut! You should not feel guilty for putting yourself first.
