Me and sports

I just realized that I never seem to blog about sports even though it is a huge part of me. This might be the reason why I never blog about it. It just seems natural to me, like the color of my eyes and I don't talk about this. Still, I decided to talk abou it today.
My mother was a professional dancer and my dad is also very sportive. Growing up my parents took me/ us skiing in the winter, paid for tennis lessons and always encouraged us be active and to engage in sports. Of course my mom had the hope that I would dance too. So I had ballet classes in kindergarten, 1st and second grade. If you know me today, you will know that dancing and me are two completely different things. I want to use my power, feel my breath and don't have the patience required for ballet. So I quit and went to athletics with my little brother. There I discovered my passion for long distance running. Both me and my brother were pretty good at it, but our coach prefered the other disciplines like sprint or long jump. There was not much support for us, I did not like my team mates and so I/we left. When I left I was thirteen, very frustrated and not very self-concious. I did not do anything for half a year.
Since I was five my family and I went to a swimming club every Saturday. On day one of the coaches told me I had talent and should train a little more. Honey for my soul! However, this swimming club only trains kids form 4- 12 which meant I had to find a different club. So, I tried out for a club near my hometown. I did not know any of the kids but still started to practise with them. The problem with sports and Germany is that it is totally independent from school. Thus, you get no support from school and often sport interferes with school. If you want to have good grades in school, you can't do too much sport. Hence, most of the swimming kids were not good at school The club wanted me to train 9 times a week and often spend my whole weekend at competetions. I know this is common in the US, yet it does not seem to work here. So, I quit again after a year. I decided to become my own coach and I was good at it. I read a lot of books and really achieved something. I must have had great discipline:) Additionally, I had fallen in love with Lance Armstrongs books when I was thirteen so I rode my bike on the days I did not swim (at least in the warmer half of the year). I was certainly fit!
One day the coach of a different team asked me if I would like to join them since he had seen me training on my own. I said yes and discovered that a classmate I did not really like was on the team as well. Umph! However, i got to know her better and a friendship started to develop. Together with my brother, who joined me as well, we had a lot of fun. I liked the team, I liked th coach. Everything was perfect. We went to school, did our homework and went swimming almost every day. This team did not make me swim as many competitions as the other one and the pressure was lower. It was simply awesome.

Me and some of the little kids


Our team at a team competition


When I graduated and went to college I stayed home with the hope that my swimming life would continue (I was naive, I know). However, most of the swimmers my age left and after battling and slowly starting to hate siwmming I left as well. I miss it and often think of the great times we had. I did not join another swimming team when I moved, but I started running a lot. I go to the gym and run on the tread mill together with my boyfriend. On Saturdays I go to the pool by myself again, like I did when I was 13. Saturdays have been my swimming day since I was 5 and they always will be. Some things never change!

What kind of sports do you do?

Letter to my 16 year old self

Hi 16 year old Anne,

don' t worry about school, family, sports or boys. Everything will turn out fine.
First of all, would you PLEASE stop worrying about the things that MIGHT go wrong. There's no reason. You are doing fine and if you don't stop worrying you will miss the best moments. Some great years are ahead of you.
Maths is tricky, right? Hard to find the right solution you believe? I tell you what? Its as easy as it can be! Just believe in yourself!!! Thats right. Just believe you can do maths and you can. I'm serious. It's that easy. Just believe in yourself. Soon a very nice teacher will tell you so and maths will become your best subject. Just wait!
In the next two years you will make lots of friends, go to some really good partys and just enjoy life in general. You are excited to go to South Africa for a month soon? You will go again in two years and stay for three months. Lots of beautiful things to discover in this country you hardly know anything about.
Sportwise it is also going to be just great. You will finally fnd the perfect swim team and Nico will join you. Together with Jassi you will have an amazing time. Yes, Jassi! Don't really like her? Just wait.
Boys! You'll find one! All you have to do is wait two more years. He's handsome and charming, everything you dream for. You will feel like you are in heaven for a year or two. But, no, I cannot tell you if he's the right one. You won't know for a very long time. Just enjoy today. The last years at school are the best. I promise. Don't worry, be happy :)

New Age (HOPE)

There is some new hope in my heart. I don't know why, but for the first time I feel like I might be able to pass biology in october (prayers wanted). I don't abolutely dread studying biology every single day anymore. I know that this will end in two and a half weeks and I will be able to move on. Which means that I will go back to my apartment. I really miss the privacy and the quiet there. Here it is always loud. Somebody is constantly entering my room without knocking. But most of all I miss Henny. I miss to just talk for hours and hours. I miss getting hugs and kisses. I miss waking up beside him....sometimes I even miss the chaos:). I hope this all works out. Like I said I believe we are meant to be together (forever). This afternoon we will go to a very nice indoor pool (summer is ofically over). I look forward to that and I will try really hard to focus on the positive things. I will NOT scold him for everything he does wrong (Im not his mom). I will make it a great day.

The vacation I had planned with three of my friends is not going to happen :(. The two girls cannot come and Im not going on a vacation with a guy alone. This does not feel right as long as I have a boyfriend.

Hope you have a great day!
Smile!

Berlin- Day 1

We left around 9.30 with me behind the wheel :) We had planned to be at a pool in Erfurt by midday which we even managed to do. Yet, the weather didn't like us AGAIN! It was cloudy and we even got a few raindrops on our head. Yet, we went to the pool anyway. We swam a bit and went down slides (no, we'll never grow up).However, henny was not ....I even dont know the word, not even in German. He was the way he usually is at the moment and really freaked out when I asked him to take a shower before we left. Something little kids do, right?! In this very tense mood we arrive at his sis's appartment. She always been the one we bothered with our problems. She talked to us a bit. She has a very strong faith (for which Im jealous). Based on her faith she tried to explain a few things to Henny which kind of worked out since Henny behaved better afterwards and was on the phone a lot with her talking about ways to improve.
At around 4:30 we hit the roads again (Henny driving this time) , stopped at Mc Do and arrived at our hotel about 9 pm. It was a great hotel. Henny later found out a night in a double bedroom usually costs 130 Euros. But we only payed 79 euros for two nights and the day at the "Tropical Island"! Once we arrived at our hotel room I was very, very tired and so we just watched TV for a while and then went to sleep.