"Peace and joy and power"

WILLIAM EDWARD HAMMERSLA

It was the middle of the week. A swimming meet involving almost twenty schools was scheduled for the weekend. Due to a shortage of personnel on my team, and to the fact that this was no ordinary meet, I was appointed to swim two events back-to-back.

Event No. 2 was the 200-yard individual medley, a race in which the swimmer uses four different strokes. Event No. 3 was the 400-yard freestyle, the longest race in high school swimming. Since these events are considered by many as the toughest endurance tests of high school competition, I had never heard of anyone swimming them back-to-back. It sounded like a very difficult thing to do.

A day or so before the meet I noticed my body becoming very tight. Tightness, tenseness, or whatever you may call it is detrimental to your performance in any sport, particularly swimming. You simply can't swim well if you are tight.

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