One Passion to the Next- with A Powerful Life Lesson

At the age of 9, I was introduced to my first love: swimming. My parents were hoping to find an activity that would take some of my energy and simply going to the park wasn’t doing the trick. They took me to an open swim with some friends where the local recreation and club teams practiced, and that was where it all began.

Once I got into the water, there was no getting me out. I could barely reach the bottom of the pool and had to tread water the whole time, but I enjoyed every minute of it. From traveling to meets that are three days to get through to spending 45 minutes putting on a knee skin and having to wear it for hours on end. The ups, downs, the amazing friends I met through the years, and the crazy experiences and opportunities I’ve had because of the world of swimming are memories I wouldn’t change for the world. Swimming taught me perseverance, hard work, dedication, being a team player, and, through the good and bad, I couldn’t imagine spending my time doing anything else. I then spent the next six years giving it my all, enjoying every minute of it, and spending all day, every day with some of my favorite people who remain some of the closest people in my life today. This was until I met a very interesting, convincing, and accomplished man my sophomore year of high school: my high school’s Athletic Director, Cross Country, and Track & Field Coach, John E. Nagel.

John held a meeting for my sophomore class to encourage us to get involved in the athletics at our high school. As a member of my high school’s swim team, I didn’t pay him much attention. It wasn’t until after the meeting when my friends considered joining the track team in the spring that I began to think about giving it a try. One practice couldn’t hurt, right?

I showed up to the first practice at the local armory where John told us we were going to see what events we had the most potential in for the first meet of the season. Starting off, he wasn’t impressed by anything I had done until he made us try a lap with hurdles. I don’t even know how I did it, probably because I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself by falling in front of the four different schools that also practiced in the armory, but I made it through the lap and didn’t miss a hurdle. When I finished, John and I shared a look of sheer shock at what I had just done. While I quickly learned that hurdles were not for me, this was the beginning of my career as a runner.

Growing up, I was always told that swimmers couldn’t run. Whether this was a joke or something people genuinely thought, I grew up thinking that running was just not for me. If it wasn’t for John’s persistence and boldness, I would probably still hold this belief.

Oh, where to even begin with John and the impact he has had on my life.

Without writing a sappy novel about the impact John has had on my life and the character he is, I’ll share a casual comment he relayed to the team that ended up being the biggest life lesson I have learned to this day.

The SDA track team attended the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 and one of my teammates had lost her band to get into the stadium. He looked at us and said “when you walk into any place, smile, wave, and act like you are supposed to be there. If you have the confidence, no one will question whether or not you belong.” I didn’t know it at the time, but that statement resonated with me so deeply it became the way I live my life. Sometimes it’s necessary to take a “fake it till you make it” approach on life and new milestones. If you exude the confidence that you belong, no one will think otherwise and you can spend more time bettering yourself rather than trying to impress and convince others that you are worth their time.

I guess you don’t know the impact someone has on your life until you reflect on your time with them years later. While I was by no means the star runner, I can say with pride that I proved to myself, and others, that swimmers can run! While I chose to continue my swim career on the UNC Club Swim Team throughout my college years, running and the people who made my time on the team so rewarding remain a major part of my life. I use running as my release, my time to think and destress, and of course, to get a good bit of cardio in. I never thought I would be the type of person that would even enjoy running, never mind it having the impact on my life that it did. But it is true what they say, it isn’t about the act itself but the people you get to share it with.

So here’s a shoutout to the man himself, John E. Nagel, for the impact he has had on my life and to the ladies who showed me that I can have it all, I just had to take the leap.

Advice of the day (I got two for this post!): (1) If there is an opportunity to take a chance on trying something new, do it! You never know the impact just one action could have on the trajectory of your life. (2) If there is someone that has impacted your life more than they will ever know and is always rooting for you, tell them how much they mean to you!

Thanks for reading 🙂

P.S. Check out some of my favorite pics from my time on the team below!