Memories of a Gator: Emily Walzl

Emily will be attending the University of Delaware in the fall.

I’ve been swimming for about as long as I can remember; I started swim lessons when I was about 3. I wasn’t very good, I was even afraid of floating on my back. I joined MVP when I was around 7 years old, again I wasn’t very good at swimming but I just loved the water too much to let my fears stop me. My first meet was a nightmare for me; swimming across the 25 meter pool seemed like an impossible task. I ended up crying before I swam and had to have a coach calm me down before I swam. But as the years and meets past I slowly got better and more confident in my abilities.

            I started to be in more of the meets, like A-meets and Divisionals, when I was 8. As an 8 year old I swam breaststroke and freestyle; I always had a fun time racing against my friends, who helped encourage me to get my best times. One of my favorite memories as an 8 year old was swimming in the freestyle relay; we made it to all-star relays and got 1^st place! It was so exciting for me as a young kid, getting 1^st place in a relay made up of some of my best friends!

            

As I grew older I fell even more in love with the sport of swimming and even started doing club swim with FBST (thanks to a family friends request) at the age of 11. Every year since I was 7 I’ve spent my summers swimming with my friends on MVP. I was in more meets as the years passed, getting stronger and faster. I also changed my specialty from breaststroke to butterfly. I bettered my times and always had fun with my friends and watching them improve their times too. As I got into the 15-18 age group my times began to plateau, although that never bothered me I always came back every summer to swim with my friends. I have spent 10 summers of my life on this team and I couldn’t be happier about it!

I’ve learned multiple lessons throughout my years of being on MVP. I’ve learned leadership skills from being on MVP even though I was never actually a coach. I’ve learned that keeping a positive attitude no matter how a race goes is always more honorable than getting upset over a bad swim. I’ve learned that any time I swim IM my friends and other swimmers will remind me of the time I did cork screw on the freestyle part of the IM that one time. Summer swim isn’t supposed to stress you out, have fun with everyone and make sure your times on MVP are filled with lots of laughs! I have been so lucky to swim with so many amazing friends (some of them on other teams as well)! Swim fast and have fun, Gators!!