Student Publishing Program ::

Rilie Brown

Life As A Swimmer

According to real athletes, “It is not a sport
It's only floating, splashing- you're not moving.”
To them a sport requires a field or a court
We know more than the winning or the losing

Five A.M. practice followed by school, travel meets
Exhausting dry lands and our hair starts turning green.
Those dreadful prelims and the joy of winning heats
Then there's that permanent smell of good old chlorine.

Four hundred IM's, fifty frees without one breath
First block class becomes a place to catch up on sleep
No skipping practice unless you're very close to death
Most normal athletes would barely last a week.

Some of us will not think about life without it
While other athletes won't consider it one bit.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2009 EDITION]