Rolling into the Deep- Literally

Yes, this ended exactly how it looks.  

Maybe no one noticed?

Maybe they weren’t watching?

Maybe this was a dream?

Maybe I could redo it?

            I was motionless under the water trying to stay at the bottom until my lungs couldn’t take it anymore.  Knowing that “failed dive,” was probably being announced across the whole CC pool facility, I did not want to resurface but eventually my chest told me it was time.

            As I pushed off of the clean white tiles through thirteen feet of still, serene, motionless water, I prepared myself for the moment of silence to break.

            My brown eyes popped above surface not only to encounter my team consisting of 90 athletes, but the whole rivalry team, all the parents in the stands, the life guards working there, the people that use the public swimming facilities, little kids, the patronizing judges and at least three camera lenses staring directly into my soul.  

            I shut it all out again going back to my serene underwater life where I couldn’t hear anything except for my own R-rated thoughts (we were always told to scream those words under water before resurfacing).

            At first I couldn’t tell if the water was leaking into my eyelids or if I was letting it out.

            Now I was crying. Grrrreeaattt!

            I swam over to the edge of the pool and slipped out of the water trying to make as subtle movements as possible. My teammates and coach comforted me as I interpreted what it was like to fail a dive.

            A double reverse flip was my cruelest nightmare, but now my best memory. 

            As the next couple weeks went by I checked the account on Flickr that our team had set up for posting pictures.

           

            LO AND BEHOLD, there was a slide show of me falling off the board, swinging my legs back, completing one flip, half of the next, landing face first into the water, crawling out of the water, then crying to my coaches.

I would like to thank whoever took those photos and posted them for the world to see J.

            So, incase you were wondering:

            Yes, everyone noticed.

            Yes, everyone was watching.

            No, this was not a dream.
          And no, I was not allowed to redo it.

Photo taken by parent of swim team member. We have a flickr page that the photos are posted on for us to have.