A Team We Can Be Proud Of

Jessie Schasteen didn’t have to do what she did. She didn’t do it because she was told to do it. She didn’t do it because her coach made her or because anyone pressured her or talked her into it. She did it because it was the right thing to do. She did it because the Miami County Vipers swim team fosters the sort of character in its athletes that Jessie portrayed on Saturday afternoon.

Jessie was one of only two swimmers in the 100-yard butterfly. The butterfly is an incredibly difficult stroke and can take its toll on a swimmer at 25 yards alone. To do the stroke for four full lengths of the pool is quite a task, and to do so at race pace is even more impressive.

The other swimmer in the 100-yard butterfly was a young man from another team who, though trying his best, obviously struggled through the entire event, and slowed considerably at the end. Jessie finished her four lengths before the young man finished two. When she finished, Jessie stayed in the pool and waited – a practice performed by all swimmers of the Miami County Vipers. But instead of just waiting for her opponent to finish and then get out of the pool, Jessie swam back to the young man when he was half a length away from finishing and swam the remainder of the race with him, side by side.

Jessie was far ahead and won by an obvious margin. But that isn’t the story at all. The story is that winning came second to being a good sport and a positive role model. The story is that Jessie knew that this man needed encouragement, and even though he swam for a different team, she decided to offer the support he needed.

She didn’t do this because her coach made her. She didn’t do it because she thought it would look good. She did it because it was the right thing to do.

That’s what the Miami County Viper’s do at every meet, every event, every time – they show up and compete with class. We should be proud to have an organization like them representing our community.

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Posted by admin on Sep 21 2011. Filed under Jeremy Gulley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry