1 August 2001

Jenny Grover

Boise Y Swim Team, Boise, Idaho

Whoever sang that song about being right here, right now deserves some genius credit.

OK, so maybe Van Halen wasn’t the originator of the concept, but what he sings about is pure truth. You can’t be distracted by or dwell on things that have been disappointments in your past. A wise man (that’s my coach Craig) has told me on several occasions that, “Past performances don’t dictate future success.” What you’ve done today is no indicator of what you’ll do tomorrow. It can go both ways though…

We have a fair amount of young talent on this trip. Being around freshmen has been a big trip down Memory Lane for me. I remember being fresh to the Y national program. Like my teammates, I felt like I was truly up and coming – at almost every meet I attended I swam best times, and it came to the point where it was a personal expectation to swim faster. I would gawk at the heat sheet and think about those 17 and 18 year olds that I was seeded next to, and wonder why they weren’t faster than me. Surely I’ll be much faster in three years, I thought.

But I’m not. The seasons have changed, but my times haven’t. I feel like a hypocrite and even embarrassed at times. I feel sympathy for those older girls that I beat when I was younger. However, those aren’t the things that show up persistently in my thoughts, or even what keeps me swimming. So I didn’t gain fast times, but a plethora of other benefits – some of my closest friends reside on the team, and I have certainly learned discipline!

Today the races were much better for me, and the team proved their ability to stay in the game. Sam won the 100 back and broke the national record. Even more though, I’m looking forward to tomorrow, which has some promising swims for our team, and I’m counting on those younger ones to come through. I don’t want to put it off another day.