My Favorite Stroke

By Karen Stadtmueller

Students often ask me “Ms. Karen, what's your favorite stroke?” and

sometimes I can’t answer. After some deliberation and practice, I have

concluded that my favorite stroke is....... Butterfly!

In no way does this mean that Butterfly is my fastest or best- looking stroke.

In fact, sometimes it’s the opposite! However, Butterfly is my favorite stroke

because it was the most challenging, the most rewarding, and so fun to

swim!

At a young age, I was always terrified of swimming the Butterfly. I fanatically

watched the Olympic Games as a child and was always so intimidated by the

Butterfly event. It makes sense, because they were literally Olympians

swimming. On television. For the whole world to see! But, when I would get

in the pool, I would get very frustrated because the majority of times I

watched people swim the Butterfly was during Olympic events and mine

looked nothing like that. So, I put Fly on the backburner and focused on the

other strokes and skills I could master.

Fast forward to my adult life- I decided it was finally time for me to conquer

my personal Everest. (Trust me, I avoided this at all costs, throwing up a

bunch of other goals to meet before I took a crack at Fly again.) When it was

time, it was time. I buckled down. I practiced. I researched. And I practiced

again. I took videos of myself to see what I needed to work on. (I still do this)

And I got better. I actually started to be pretty good; if I do say so myself.

What I love about swimming Butterfly to this day is that I started late and it

took me a while, but I did it! Even now when I swim at Pinnacle, I am

empowered by the Butterfly because it reminds me of all the things I

thought I couldn’t do, but did! It really is the most rewarding feeling, working

hard and having clear video evidence of my improvements. I love swimming

and there is nothing quite as fun as swimming a beautiful lap of Butterfly!

_________________________________________________________________________