Hard Work Pays Off – By Maddy Lavoie

By Maddy Lavoie

During the winter season, there is usually one thing to specifically look forward to as a swimmer – a taper meet.

A tapered swim meet is a meet you only get to do once or twice in a collegiate season. It’s a swim meet in which you get to rest your body the week before, so you can swim your fastest times. In other swim meets of the season, swimmers have to practice in the morning and compete in the afternoon. This means they have to compete while their bodies are sore, but still have to get up and race.

Late December, I got to do my first tapered meet of the season. It was the annual Delta State University Christmas Invite. Throughout this meet, I was able to swim best times and even make a bit of history for the Delta. I was able to break the DSU record in 200m breaststroke and also break the pool record in a time of 2:13.97. The former pool record was held by Anne Poleska of University of Alabama in 2004. In that same year, Anne Poleska qualified for the Olympics and won a bronze medal in 200m breaststroke. This was one of my biggest accomplishments in my swimming career and nothing feels better than seeing all of the hard work pay off.

Sometimes training can get so gruelling, that it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Your body is sore and you can’t remember the last time that it wasn’t. But no matter what, hard work pays off. If you stay committed and dedicated, hard work will always pay off in the end. After 4 months of hard training, I was finally able to show myself and the ones around me what I could do. Never give up and something amazing will happen.