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Brian Lee's avatar

In other comments I've written that my son is an elite swimmer. He's one of the lucky gifted athletes that puts him in the less than top 1% in the country. This isn't exactly a money making sport. Yes there are a few pros and Phelps made a fortune but the odds of that are far less that making it in the NBA.

What swimming at that level has taught him is critical life lessons. He loves to compete and he loves to win but it's not the end of the world if he loses a race. There's always another opportunity to race. He likes to say that if he gets beat, the winner better set some kind of record, even if it's a personal best because he's going to make them work as hard as they can. He also knows to win with grace. At his level everyone has worked incredibly hard to get there and often the difference is 0.01 seconds. That's a slightly faster touch because they're at the wall at the same time.

He knows how to be a team player and how to support his teammates. He's been in meets where he could have sandbagged and swum in a couple of events that are important to him. Instead he swam in others and scored points. He was not as well rested for his best events and perhaps sacrificed a little time.

His coaches were critical to his development. As parents we can only do so much because they need to hear another set of voices telling them what good character and hard work mean.

There was a time when he was far from being one of the fastest kids in the pool. Even if he didn't make it to the level he's on, the life lessons would be there. That part is that's been the constant for him. Work hard, do your best, be a good teammate and always show grace and empathy. The rest is just gravy.

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