University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vol Diary - Bryttany Curran
January 10, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
I have found that in life, as Pliny the Elder so accurately states, "The only certainty is that there is nothing certain." And with that uncertainty comes an opportunity to learn and an opportunity to grow. For me, that opportunity came in the last few weeks.
For many college students, the month of December means holidays, sweets, family, and most importantly???no school!!! However, for the Lady Vol swim team (and most swim teams across the country) it means only one thing: Christmas training. This is a time when training yardage and intensity increases, and the drive to do anything other than sleep and eat decreases. So what keeps us focused during these grueling days, stuck on campus while everybody else relaxes at home? Strength. This word is used countless times on the pool deck. But, I find it takes a great deal of thought before one can truly understand what it means???and more importantly what it feels like???to be strong.
The word strength often describes a physical characteristic. However, I have found this to be just one of many essential definitions. Yes, as athletes it is important to be physically strong, but as competitors in a race to the NCAA Swimming Championships, it is far more important to have the strength of a team. From this strength comes the responsibility to be trusting, loyal, open, supportive and to challenge one another with personal accountability. With these traits, each individual has the chance to be better than they would be on their own. From these traits also comes an opportunity to swim with pride. And if at any moment we feel like we can???t swim for ourselves because our knee hurts or our shoulder hurts, or we???re tired and sore, or just having a bad day, we look to our right and we do it for her. Then we look to our left and do it for her. We do it for those who came before us and for those who will follow after. We do it because we are Lady Vols and a Lady Vol is strong. Not because she can do pull-ups, run, climb ropes and swim an extremely long way, but because she has 22 other girls, two coaches, three managers, family, friends and hundreds of others holding her up. So yes, life may be uncertain, and swimming may be equally uncertain, but I know that whatever happens we will be strong. And with this strength we can do anything.
