My Favorite Stroke
My Favorite Stroke
By Karen Stadtmueller
Students often ask me “Ms. Karen, what's your favorite stroke?” and
sometimes I can’t answer. After some deliberation and practice, I have
concluded that my favorite stroke is....... Butterfly!
In no way does this mean that Butterfly is my fastest or best- looking stroke.
In fact, sometimes it’s the opposite! However, Butterfly is my favorite stroke
because it was the most challenging, the most rewarding, and so fun to
swim!
At a young age, I was always terrified of swimming the Butterfly. I fanatically
watched the Olympic Games as a child and was always so intimidated by the
Butterfly event. It makes sense, because they were literally Olympians
swimming. On television. For the whole world to see! But, when I would get
in the pool, I would get very frustrated because the majority of times I
watched people swim the Butterfly was during Olympic events and mine
looked nothing like that. So, I put Fly on the backburner and focused on the
other strokes and skills I could master.
Fast forward to my adult life- I decided it was finally time for me to conquer
my personal Everest. (Trust me, I avoided this at all costs, throwing up a
bunch of other goals to meet before I took a crack at Fly again.) When it was
time, it was time. I buckled down. I practiced. I researched. And I practiced
again. I took videos of myself to see what I needed to work on. (I still do this)
And I got better. I actually started to be pretty good; if I do say so myself.
What I love about swimming Butterfly to this day is that I started late and it
took me a while, but I did it! Even now when I swim at Pinnacle, I am
empowered by the Butterfly because it reminds me of all the things I
thought I couldn’t do, but did! It really is the most rewarding feeling, working
hard and having clear video evidence of my improvements. I love swimming
and there is nothing quite as fun as swimming a beautiful lap of Butterfly!
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