One month ago in December, there was an event going on at the University of Tennessee for the best eighteen and under swimmers in the country to compete at. This event was called the 2012 Speedo Winter Junior National Championships. This is the most elite swim meet in the country for only eighteen and under swimmers, which I qualified for. It was a four day long event that I even skipped school for because it is very hard to make it into that kind of swim meet at such a high level. I woke up at three, on Tuesday morning and flew into Knoxville, Tennessee to meet up with my swim team, Swim Pasadena. The meet didn't start until Thursday but my coach, told me that we should go a few days earlier to acquaintance our self with the pool and facilities.
I swam 4 events. I swam the four hundred individual medley, two hundred individual medley, two hundred butterfly and the one hundred backstroke. These are my best events because I like swimming them and I love competing in these events.

The historical and culture context for going to Junior Nationals is probably all the memories I have from when I was younger and I went to these National meets to watch my older brother and sister compete. I feel as if I am following the family tradition of going to really big and fast swim meets. I've looked up to my siblings for a long time, and when I realized that I have achieved something that I use to admire about them was a great feeling. When I went to Juniors my goals were to drop time in all my events, become faster, and look at the college where I might spend four years of my life.

When I attended Winter Juniors, I learned a lot about myself and even about the sport of swimming. I swam best times three out of the four events and I was happy with that. I didn't do as well as I wanted but it just told me that I need to train more and become stronger and fast to keep up with me goals. I also learned specific things too like in the two hundred butterfly, my stroke changed on the last fifty yards for the worse and made me go slower. I learned that it was because I fatigued and if I can become stronger so I don’t fatigue I will go faster next time. Also when I was there I was invited to a junior day from the college where they talk to me about going to the University of Tennessee and swimming for them. And I learned that the University of Tennessee is a really nice school. And that they are not afraid to put money into the athletic programs and recruit people.

This whole event was a complete experience for me. It has taught me many things including things that can make me a better swimmer and to be a better person. I have learned techniques and ways to work harder on practice so that I don’t fatigue and also before I went to Winter Junior Nationals I thought of my self as a pretty fast person, that I was all that, bragging and being kind of cocky about it. But when I went to Juniors is made me realized that I wasn't all that fast. That I shouldn't be cocky because I was not even close to being one of the fastest at that swim meet, that there are many swimmers around the nation that are faster then me. I also learned that Tennessee might be the place I go to college. Visiting the campus and facilities opened my eyes to the school that I before didn't even know about before. This event could have possible change my whole future in swimming and in school.

The 2012 Speedo Winter Junior National Championships is not just an event that should be taken lightly. Students from all over the country come together for a swimming competing. It is amazing to see so many different cultures and races come to together for something like a swim meets. It makes you realize how big swimming has become, in my life and around the world. I grew up with swimming since my whole family swam, and I remember long ago that swimming wasn't a very big sport. But now you see swimming on the T.V. and as the featured event in the Summer Olympics. The world as been cultured now that swimming is the event to watch at the biggest athletic competing of all. That swimming is now a known sport. And even the name Michael Phelps is a household name, known everywhere. Swimming has grown a lot since the time I remember watching my sibling compete. When I see all of this it just makes me more inspired to keep up with my passion of swimming and try to make swimming even bigger.