Tuesday, March 2, 2021
My Why: Junseo Kim, Simone Manuel & Justin Ress
Some sage soul, possibly Rowdy Gaines, once mused, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
At this point, our hearts are to the point of bursting with pent-up fondness — and longing — for the pool. Continued and extended periods of quarantine have distanced us from the comfort of chlorine during the 'Rona’s reign, affecting all members of the swim community — athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, family and supporters alike.
We’ve missed the big moments: postponed U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming and 2020 Olympic Games Tokyo, as well as hundreds of cancelled international, national and local age group meets.
We’ve missed the little moments: obligatory groans at early-morning practice, the communal joy of a dropped tenth, as well as hundreds of laughs, hugs, cheers and tears.
Of course, these aren’t actually the little moments. The relationships, the bonds, the empathy and the love are the true comforts of chlorine.
"My Why" is a series of candid testimonials from individuals who believe in the power of swimming. Their passion for the sport is infectious.
Junseo Kim | Scarlet Aquatics-New Jersey Wave swimmer (age 18) | Palisades Park, NJ
I currently swim for my club team, Scarlet Aquatics, and this coming fall, I will be swimming for Yale University.
My swim journey began when I was seven years old. My mom first signed me up for swim lessons because she wanted me to exercise but moreover because she thought it was an important life skill for me to learn.
The main reason is definitely because I love the thrill of competition. Knowing I will be competing motivates me to train harder and allows me to set goals for myself. Yes, there are times when I fail, but failing gives me an opportunity to look back and learn from my mistakes. To this day, this sport teaches me a lot about myself.
Simone Manuel | U.S. National Team swimmer | Sugar Land, TX
My why is my genuine love for swimming. My love for the water started when I was really young. I loved bath time as a kid. In the summers, my parents would take my two older brothers and me to the pools and we would just enjoy splashing and jumping in the water.
I eventually took swim lessons at the age of four, and my love for this sport of swimming continued to grow. I did other sports growing up, but swimming is the one that remained at the forefront. I decided to pursue it as my passion later on as a young adult.
Swimming is so important to me because it makes me happy. It genuinely fills my emotional tank, it is a sense of therapy for me, it is a great form of exercise. More importantly, it is something that I just love to do.
I love to challenge myself and I love to set goals. I also love that swimming has afforded me the opportunities to be able to meet amazing people, travel, be inspired by others and also serve as an inspiration to others.
It’s just been a wonderful blessing in my life. I think that when we love something, it’s something that we always want to do, it’s something that we want to strive to be our best in, and swimming is that for me. It simply is just something that I love to do.
Justin Ress | U.S. National Team swimmer | Cary, NC
I first started swimming because of my love for the water at a very young age. I even have a couple of pictures of me going off the diving board when I was maybe two. I started with summer league swimming and quickly learned how much I loved being part of a team and winning. As I got a bit older, around six or so, my summer league friends became much faster than me after swimming for the Marlins of Raleigh year-round club. I wanted to catch back up.
I think this competitiveness is what drove me for so long to start becoming serious about the sport. What I ended up loving was the social connections you can make with other people. When you work as hard as swimmers do, you form bonds with other people that most non-athletes simply cannot understand.
Funny enough, I only started deciding I wanted to swim in college after a series of ankle injuries prevented me from having a future in soccer. Once you sprain your ankle, it becomes much easier to do again. I soon realized that was the best decision I possibly could have made because once I got to NC State, my passion for competing started to burn again.
Swimming has allowed me to meet so many different, awesome people from all over the world, creating connections I never thought I would have.
At this point, our hearts are to the point of bursting with pent-up fondness — and longing — for the pool. Continued and extended periods of quarantine have distanced us from the comfort of chlorine during the 'Rona’s reign, affecting all members of the swim community — athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, family and supporters alike.
We’ve missed the big moments: postponed U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming and 2020 Olympic Games Tokyo, as well as hundreds of cancelled international, national and local age group meets.
We’ve missed the little moments: obligatory groans at early-morning practice, the communal joy of a dropped tenth, as well as hundreds of laughs, hugs, cheers and tears.
Of course, these aren’t actually the little moments. The relationships, the bonds, the empathy and the love are the true comforts of chlorine.
"My Why" is a series of candid testimonials from individuals who believe in the power of swimming. Their passion for the sport is infectious.
Junseo Kim | Scarlet Aquatics-New Jersey Wave swimmer (age 18) | Palisades Park, NJ
I currently swim for my club team, Scarlet Aquatics, and this coming fall, I will be swimming for Yale University.
My swim journey began when I was seven years old. My mom first signed me up for swim lessons because she wanted me to exercise but moreover because she thought it was an important life skill for me to learn.
The main reason is definitely because I love the thrill of competition. Knowing I will be competing motivates me to train harder and allows me to set goals for myself. Yes, there are times when I fail, but failing gives me an opportunity to look back and learn from my mistakes. To this day, this sport teaches me a lot about myself.
Simone Manuel | U.S. National Team swimmer | Sugar Land, TX
My why is my genuine love for swimming. My love for the water started when I was really young. I loved bath time as a kid. In the summers, my parents would take my two older brothers and me to the pools and we would just enjoy splashing and jumping in the water.
I eventually took swim lessons at the age of four, and my love for this sport of swimming continued to grow. I did other sports growing up, but swimming is the one that remained at the forefront. I decided to pursue it as my passion later on as a young adult.
Swimming is so important to me because it makes me happy. It genuinely fills my emotional tank, it is a sense of therapy for me, it is a great form of exercise. More importantly, it is something that I just love to do.
I love to challenge myself and I love to set goals. I also love that swimming has afforded me the opportunities to be able to meet amazing people, travel, be inspired by others and also serve as an inspiration to others.
It’s just been a wonderful blessing in my life. I think that when we love something, it’s something that we always want to do, it’s something that we want to strive to be our best in, and swimming is that for me. It simply is just something that I love to do.
Justin Ress | U.S. National Team swimmer | Cary, NC
I first started swimming because of my love for the water at a very young age. I even have a couple of pictures of me going off the diving board when I was maybe two. I started with summer league swimming and quickly learned how much I loved being part of a team and winning. As I got a bit older, around six or so, my summer league friends became much faster than me after swimming for the Marlins of Raleigh year-round club. I wanted to catch back up.
I think this competitiveness is what drove me for so long to start becoming serious about the sport. What I ended up loving was the social connections you can make with other people. When you work as hard as swimmers do, you form bonds with other people that most non-athletes simply cannot understand.
Funny enough, I only started deciding I wanted to swim in college after a series of ankle injuries prevented me from having a future in soccer. Once you sprain your ankle, it becomes much easier to do again. I soon realized that was the best decision I possibly could have made because once I got to NC State, my passion for competing started to burn again.
Swimming has allowed me to meet so many different, awesome people from all over the world, creating connections I never thought I would have.