- 2024 Highlights 2
Personal Statement
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” I lead my life by that quote, but I’ve added a complementary phrase to it: “…and fight for it”.
My friends ask me everyday: “Why don’t you go enjoy life and stop swimming? What does swimming give you anyways?” And I do understand why they think that way. I wake up at 4:30am to get in 6km while they’re sound asleep; after school ends at 2:20 I take an hours nap before training again at 4:00pm while they’re playing at school. Every weekday(aside from Wednesday), I usually reach home at around 7:20pm, doing homework until sleeping at 9:15—my meals(?), on the car.
Maybe I began swimming for all the usual factors like my fervent passion and joy as the cold water(or occasionally scorching because I live in Thailand) rushes across my face when I dive in, the indescribable sense of pride in overcoming my PB, or the pure satisfaction of standing up there on the podium; however, the lessons I learned and the skills I acquired are what makes my swimming career so valuable and irreplaceable.
No one, me included, enjoys the bitter taste of defeat as you see the lane beside you edge you by just a few milliseconds; we all enjoy the rush of adrenaline that comes with the sweet taste of victory. But swimming has taught me that unceasing victory is impossible, and defeat should be cherished as much as victory. Defeat is the spark that pushes me to become better and stronger—and I fight everyday to keep the promise to my coach that one day, hopefully soon, I’d rise back up and become the fastest in the 200fly again, like when I was 13(but this time I’ll not only be the first in my age group, but in the country).
Back when I was much younger, many of my friends engaged in competitive swimming, but as they grew older they quit to focus on education. My dad told me: “If your grades drop, you’d have to quit too” and “School and training is only going to get harder as you grow up.” He made me realize that dreams required personal sacrifice, to make every second of my life worth something—my life filled with fervor and determination, but to outsiders a monotonous revolution. I adapted myself as challenges presented themselves, to accomplish what many deemed impossible: achieving 4.0 unweighted GPA every year in the highest rigor classes while never missing my 10 sessions of training weekly. I’ve learned to turn the thorns in words of those who don’t believe in me, who don’t see my accomplishments, into roses that provide me motivation to be better every day, to achieve more every year, and most importantly to make the best of the moment. I am certain there’s no dream that’s impossible if we tell ourselves ‘I’m possible.’
‘Discipline is doing something even when you don’t want to do it.’ That’s what the Head Coach said to everyone when I was representing Thailand in the South East Asian Age Group swimming championships, and it has stuck to me ever since. I’ve witnessed a change that I think resonates with every swimmer: from enjoying every moment in the water when I was young, to sometimes feeling groggy when diving into the pool before sunrise. Sometimes it’s over 35 degrees outside and I dive into what feels like a boiling pot. But I am certain the perseverance and discipline that I’ve developed through keeping that fire in me burning and growing —to push through the most tiring sessions and the worst failures— is one of the best assets I’ve got: a quality that makes all the difference, especially when the greatest successes don’t come in a night, nor a year. I’ll fight whenever and wherever for all my dreams even if it were to take decades: I’ve done it here, I will do it again.
Swimming is far from a ‘waste of time’, the experiences and relationships it gives me alone is worth all the time. The lessons and indispensable wisdom I’ve gathered is something I believe I can’t learn so wholly another way. To significantly contribute to great innovations that will further humanity is my greatest goal, to help create a future that I so vividly dream of—one among the stars. It requires me to wake up before everyone, to be unlike everyone, to push beyond expectations, and that’s just what I learned in the past 10 years of my life in this rectangular body of water. So whenever I ask myself ‘would I ever choose to do it different?’, I would confidently say ‘No’.
