John Andrade

31/8/11
WR 13300

LiIe and its Many Flips

It seems as though that Ior my whole liIe I`ve been surrounded by water. From the time I
learned how to swim when I was about three years old, water had basically become my second
home. My childhood summers consisted oI me being either in my backyard pool or swimming
Ior the local community center swim team. Nonetheless, as a child I spent more time in water
than on land.

I had been a swimmer Ior ages. Since the summer aIter third grade, I had been in the
water swimming back and Iorth while staring at a giant T Ior extended amounts oI time every
day. And throughout my later childhood and early adolescence, I loved that never-ending cycle
in a pool that was called swimming. The cool Ieel oI the water on a hot Florida aIternoon, the
rough, gritty texture oI the diving blocks, the ability to eat copious amounts oI Iood aIter
practice, I loved all oI that. At the time, I thought that swimming was my calling, and what I was
going to do Ior the rest oI my liIe. However, my younger selI couldn`t have been any more
wrong.

For years while swimming, I had always looked curiously at the other side oI the pool. In
these days, I saw these people on these somewhat Ioreign-looking objects and looked at them in
awe. The kids on the other side oI the pool didn`t look much diIIerent Irom me or any oI the
other kids swimming in my area, but at the same time these other kids couldn`t have been any
more Iascinating. They would walk down this blue-green springboard, push down on it with all
their might, and do what seemed to be a million Ilips without even trying. As a swimmer who
could only do a Iront Ilip on one oI these springboards (and not without getting yelled at by
liIeguards), I was always awestruck at these divers. I would be so interested in what they were
doing, I would oIten Iorget what I was supposed to do, and as a result get yelled at Ior not paying
attention on multiple occasions. There were also times where I would think to myselI, 'I want to
be like those kids on the other side oI the pool and do a bunch oI Ilips oII oI those diving
boards. But then I remembered, 'Oh wait, I`m a swimmer. I couldn`t possibly ever do that. I
had this mentality Ior about six years.

Upon moving to Connecticut, I started doing country club diving in the summer.
However, this wasn`t anything like the amazing divers I saw on the other side oI the pool, but
still being in my 'Iorever a swimmer attitude, I was satisIied with doing Iront 1.5s in swim
trunks as opposed to what I could be doing iI I wanted to take it seriously. I was happy keeping
swimming at the IoreIront oI my liIe really until high school came along, at which point
something in me changed.

Come my Ireshman year in high school, I hated swimming. The only thing that kept me
Irom burning out completely was my school`s team, because I loved all oI the people on it and
the social aspect was just so much Iun. It was extremely annoying, because I loved my team, but
I hated the sport. But then, aIter being at multiple meets it hit me. My high school swimming and
diving team had divers on it, and that iI I switched over, I would get the best oI both worlds: I
would be able to do what I loved (aIter spending several summers doing country club league, I
deIinitely preIerred diving over swimming) without leaving the people I loved. I asked one oI the
John Andrade
31/8/11
WR 13300

divers Ior the inIormation, and then started it up my sophomore year. This simple epiphany that
there was a solution to my dilemma could well have altered the course oI my liIe Iorever.

From the day that I Iirst started legitimately diving, I was more in love with the sport than
I ever had been. I really enjoyed Ilying through the air spinning and twisting, and on top oI that it
came naturally to me. I learned it so quickly and to this day, I love it more than I ever loved
swimming. Finally, I was able to be like the kids that I had observed with wonder in my eyes
since my early childhood. I had Iinally Iound my calling. And now, because I Iound diving, I`m
able to dive Ior the University oI Notre Dame. It is very possible that as a young child I knew
deep down that I would someday be like those kids on the other end oI the pool deck, but I just
never realized it. My liIe couldn`t have changed more, and I`m so happy that it did.