Seventeen years of swimming. How do I begin to summarize all those years? I should probably start from the beginning. At age 5, I remember myself waiting for my brother almost every day to finish his practice. I was waiting in the pool while the coaches were yelling at the swimmers to finish practice hard. At that point, I knew that one day I will be in the water just like my brother. One day, a coach asked me to try and join to his swim team. Few months later I was part of a competitive Haifa swim team, my home town. Only at the age 10 I was legally able to compete. At age 10 I went to my first championship and won the 200 backstroke. At that time I had no idea what does it mean to win the gold. During all my swimming years, people have been asking me, why do you do that to yourself? Swimming sounds not fun! I just laugh and smile. What is swimming for me?
Swimming is not just a sport; it is a way of life. Swimmers live for the long hour practices, the cheers, the long bus rides, the chlorine, the laughs, the coaches, the team parties and much more. They live for the workouts and the goals they set at the beginning of the season. They live for the way they become a family with their team. It is all part of the swimming package. I found who I am through swimming. Most of my good and bad life experiences are through swimming. I met most of my best friends through there and I can definitely say that without swimming I was not the same person I am today.
When I came to SMU, it was different then what I was used to. I found out once again why I love swimming so much. I found the fun side of swimming along with some hard work. One quote that really stuck in my head is, “some people think swimming is individual sport. They’ve never tried practicing alone.” Swimming is a team sport and this is what we do on this team. This year, I knew that swimming is coming to an end. I did not know if I am happy about that or sad. So let me tell you something; I am not Michael Phelps and at the age of 24 swimming is hard mentally and especially physically (thanks for keep reminding me how old I am!) At this point of my life, I am more than ready to finish my swimming career; I can look back and be satisfied with everything I went through, experienced and learned.
So I want to say thanks for each and every one of you that was part of my long journey. Anna, you were the first one I have met here and obviously you welcomed me even though you did not understand me. You are a great person and I am happy we shared lanes through all these years here. Let me just give you a small advise, the world is beautiful when you open your eyes! Nikki, my crazy girl, college experience would definitely look different without you. Do you remember that we were intimidated from each other at the beginning? Look at us now, I will never forget you. Linda, my best roommate, even though you are busy all the time, I always had a lot of fun with you. One moment that I will never forget is that I came to practice one day and coach told me to run to the rack and see you. You ran to me, stopped for a moment to think, and remembered how to say I love you in Hebrew. You made my day. Kratzke, my fly partner, I am glad I could share with someone this torturous stroke. Also, thanks for sharing your amazing baking skills. When you will open a bakery shop, I promise I will be your first client. Blond Abby, so you are the one that caught me with the bad joke of time machine. Good joke everyone! Mark, my fisher guy, thanks for exposing me to the nature and thanks for letting me catch my first fish. I had a great time to be your neighbor, every week it was different adventure. I know that one day you will have a TV show like that crazy man who catches fish! Jon, we had some great times too. You are a great fit in the swimming world so I am happy you joined. Kristin, I have seen you coming out of your shell since freshman year, thank you for letting me know you better. Your sneezing will always be the funniest. Kaitlyn, you always stay on top of things! Thank you for helping me whenever I needed it, you are a great person. Anne, my shorty twin, you are doing an awesome job this year and I am glad you could transfer to this team. Ashling, I am always jealous of you because you taking swimming and life easily, you just know how to have fun. P.J., thanks for letting me feel tall for a bit. You have a lot of potential so do not waste it. Sarah, Scott, Tina, Bethany, and Shea, I am happy that you are giving swimming your best shot; we all know how hard it can be. It is never too late to try new things in life and for that I am proud of you; if you still did not quit, it means that you are doing a superb job. Shea, it is never boring with you, good job keeping the tradition of the Tandberg family. Scott, you are awesome, every time I look at you, you have a big smile on your face.
Coach, it has been my pleasure to be your swimmer. You have been there for me and you always understood me. You provided me a second home and a comfortable place to be since the first moment. So I thank you today for coaching me in the last three years of my career.
Lastly, I could not be here and made my dreams come true without my family. Mom and Dad, thank you for giving me the freedom to do what my heart tells me to do. Thank you for all the support that you gave me through these years. I am thankful for all the things and support you give me every day. To my brother, you’re my best friend. I thank you for always being there for me, even when you did it through tough love. Every year someone asks me, who is your biggest inspiration in life? Ever since I was a little girl, my answer was always you. So I started swimming because of you and I am proud to say that I have followed your way. Thank you for letting me experience amazing life.
Seventeen years of swimming with seven different coaches on three different continents after thousands of miles in practices and great, supporting friends, are ending this year. I want to finish with my life’s lesson, Ian Thorpe said "When I go out and race, I'm not trying to beat opponents, I'm trying to beat what I have done ... to beat myself, basically. People find that hard to believe because we've had such a bias to always strive to win things. If you win something and you haven't put everything into it, you haven't actually achieved anything at all. When you've had to work hard for something and you've got the best you can out of yourself on that given day, that's where you get satisfaction from." I apply this in every aspect of my life, and hoping you will too. Thank you everyone. |
