As he dove under water he feels undefeated as if he could conquer anything in the world, focusing only on himself. Back and forth in the fifty foot pool he strokes, feeling the cool refreshing water against his skin like a fish in the ocean with the large pool only to himself. He pulls himself up out of the water with his two muscular arms and with clear drops flowing down his body, he reaches for a towel. John Crest gives everything he has ever worked for in his life to swimming. Ever since he was five, John started swimming and from then on he was dedicated to fulfill his career. He wanted nothing more than to swim in front of a giant crowd in the Olympics, but he knew if that’s what he wanted to do he had to work hard.

When John comes home from school he gets straight to his biology project, being a grad student he has a very busy year and works extremely hard to achieve his goals.
“Shut up Kaya”, John screams, “Turn off your damn music”. His eleven-year-old sister sure can drive him crazy. John doesn’t have any time for fun. He works and works and on any spare time he is on the Internet writing down facts on swimming techniques.
“You know, John, your mother and I, are beginning to worry about you. You should take it easy or you are going to get a serious injury, take sometime to relax”, Johns father says. Of course John didn’t listen to people even his younger sister tried to warn him.



The next morning John sprang out of bed early all ready for the day. He filled his bowl with Cheerios, poured as much milk into the bowl as he could fit and ran out the door for early morning swim practice. It was his weekly practice test and John was attempting to break his own record of 24.6 seconds all the way to the other side of the fifty meter pool. As he plants his feet, bends his knees and shoots off into the water, arm after arm he strides across the pool to the finish. As he looks up at his time, six seconds under his record he throws off his goggles and stomps away from his coach. Being as frustrated as he was he decided to take his anger out and go diving, slowly he walked up the stairs of the tallest diving board positioning his feet and getting into his ready position. He sprung up his foot slipped,
“NOOO” John yelled as everyone looked his way. Suddenly his back scrapped against the edge of the diving bored John landed on his back in the water trying to retain his balance.


As john burst out of the water, fear glazed over his eyes, he could not move his legs; slowly he swayed his arms back and forth trying to stay above the 50 ft. pool.
“Are you okay? John, John can you hear me?” Coach Jackson loudly spoke hoping to hear a reply, but there was nothing. The couch and other mates began dragging him out of the water.
“I will call 911” his friend Sam says running to go do so. Sirens screaming and racing as fast as they can down to the school, is all John could see was a faint sight of the flashing lights in this eyes as he was taken to the hospital. When they arrived john was brought to his own room immediately as his sister Kaya, mother and father were there to meet him. Doctor Chuck, there family doctor discovered a broken rib, fractured spine and
a concussion from the force when he hit the water. John Crest knew right then his career was over.


After many hard exhausting weeks John woke up with excitement. It had been exactly one month from his accident and he was getting released form the hospital today. From the time he got home he began to cheer up, and it was different than usual. He played board games and hot tub and enjoyed himself and his family as he spent time at home. Although John could never stop thinking about swimming he began to realize that there is more to life than that.
“Thanks for making be breakfast every morning Kaya” John says as she smiled and gave her a hug.
“My pleasure” she replies. Kaya did everything she could to help him out as being in a wheel chair was not easy.


That night john had a dream, he dreamt he was at the Nationals; everyone was cheering and having a great time. John then got a great idea, he decided that he could take Coach Jackson’s couching position, as he was getting old and wanting to retire. Everyone thought that was an awesome opportunity as he wheeled over to the school and reconnected with the swim team. The swimmers loved him and everyday he got better and stronger. After coaching John went home and had shepherds pie with his family laughing and telling stories around the kitchen table, enjoying their time together. Shortly after dinner John decided that it was time he tried to get out of his wheelchair himself. As
He pulled himself out slowly taking small steps trying to reach the counter top John was never happier. He then began taking small steps and improving them everyday, he no longer needed his wheelchair and began to use crutches.

John had a doctor’s appointment the next day and everything went great. Doctor Chuck told him he would be able to swim competitively however it will take a lot of physio and many year of practice. John was filled with joy as he heads down to the pool and changes into swim gear. He slowly puts on his shorts, goggles and his swim cap, nerves beginning to occur. Sitting on the edge of the pool he swishes his toes wiggling them back and forth in the water. He slowly uses his arm muscles to twist his body into the chlorinated water. John begins to move his arms and kick his legs; a smile reached his face that no one ever seen before. John accomplished a major goal in his life to be able to swim. He begins to stride back and forth as a pain in his back will always remind him of the accident that changed his life.