I started to really miss swim which is something I never thought I would say due to how burnt out I was.

But it’s true. I missed my passion. I missed my sport. I missed the adrenaline rush that I would get when I was up on the blocks before my races. I missed competing.

I kept a lot of that to myself for a while. Once I started verbalizing my emotions, blessings started coming my way.

THE BEST THING THAT COULD’VE HAPPENED TO ME

The head coach of ESA reached out to me in August of this year and offered me a coaching position on the team that literally made me who I am today. The crazy part is he reached out to me 1 day after I had a heart to heart with my family about swimming.

I was so overwhelmed with joy because this was my opportunity to go back to where I came from. This was my chance to nurture our youth and help young swimmers the way my coaches helped me.

Ever since I started coaching, my swimmers have brought me so much joy. I have been able to have incredible conversations with kids about their goals and I am doing everything I can to help them achieve those goals. I’ve also had the opportunity to share my experiences because I was in their shoes at one point not too long ago. It’s extremely important for me to give meaningful advice because I wish I had someone who did that for me when I decided to quit swimming.

Being a coach is so much more than telling an athlete what to do. It’s about correcting technique, creating a fun and safe environment for the swimmers and lastly, to help prepare them for the real world.

I have incorporated dry- land exercises that builds endurance and strength that can be translated into the water. Here is an example of a typical dry-land workout:

• 20 pushups
• 10 jumping jacks
• 20 crunches
• 10 squat jumps
• (4) 25 yard sprints

(3 seconds rest in between each)

This workout combines cardio and endurance allowing ANYONE to get their heart rate up while also being able to rest.

THANKFUL FOR THE HARD TIMES

I am beyond grateful for all of the hard times that I’ve had to endure over the years because I’ve learned how to be my happiest self. I now cook all of my meals and even started creating my own recipes. My recipes may not always be the healthiest but at least it’s not fast food! I found joy in things that I never thought I’d find joy in. For example, being a coach. I have never really liked kids but the kids that I coach are my absolute world. They are so talented and I am super lucky to be their coach.

Swimming is still my passion but instead of being an athlete, I’m a coach.

Photo by David Whittaker on Pexels.com

REAL LIFE

My athletic swim career ended after I completed my senior year of high school.

I decided to hang up my cap and goggles and shift my focus to things that were more important.

I never really got to enjoy my free time because there wasn’t much of it and when I did have free time I just wanted to relax. I really wanted to focus more on what I wanted to do in life and be able to spend quality time with friends and family.

Life is so precious and I found myself missing out on things that were big parts of loved ones lives.

Of course, when I stopped swimming, I was no longer capable of consuming all of the calories that I used to because the calories weren’t getting burnt off through 2 practices a day anymore. Being a broke college girl, I was always eating off of the $1 menu at McDonalds or splurging at Chickfila. I never made time to go to the gym, instead I made time to go to the bars. I also found myself to be a lot less happy than I was when I was swimming on a regular basis which is the opposite of what I was expecting.

One day, I jumped on the scale and saw that I had gained 20 pounds. I was in disbelief.

Right then and there I knew that I had to start taking care of myself again.

FOR ANYONE WHO HAS LOST THEMSELVES

Before I knew how much weight I had gained, I recognized that the confidence I once had about my body was no longer present. I knew I wasn’t happy but I didn’t understand why until I saw the scale.

I had lost myself.

Before I did anything, I wrote down goals that I had for myself. Things that I wanted to start doing. A schedule that I wanted to start following. I needed a routine again

Personally, writing things down helps me get things done. Not only does it force me to speak it but also write it and then check it off.

I taped the goals I had written down for myself on my mirror that way when I woke up in the mornings, I was reminded and there would be no excuses.

I logged my workout on a daily basis making sure that I made it to the gym at least 5 days a week.

The most important thing I did was clean up my eating and drink a whole lot of water. My skin cleared up and I felt as though my life and body was cleansed. Like I mentioned earlier, I learned how to meal prep at a very young age so I started portioning out my meals and eating a lot less preservatives.

If you find yourself living an unhealthy life, please make the changes to become a better you.

Exercising is proven to reduce stress, improve sleep, boost self-esteem, and ward off anxiety and feelings of depression.

So if you find yourself to be unhappy, the easiest thing you could do would be to exercise.

Maybe I should give myself some credibility.

Just because I swam for 14 years, doesn’t mean a damn thing. I could’ve sucked ass at swimming. So why would you listen to me, right?

LET’S GET TECHNICAL

Let me explain how competitive swimming works.

Often times, swimmers start their swim careers on summer league teams which are swim teams based out of public neighborhood pools. That’s what my brothers did and eventually that’s what I did. It wasn’t very long until I was the fastest girl in my age group, soon turning into the fastest girl on the team.

There were 3 different championship meets that are at the end of each summer session. One of which was Red, White and Blue. This was for moderately fast swimmers who had specific times for specific events. Another was All-Stars which was for the kids who were a little bit faster than Red, White and Blue qualifiers. Lastly, the meet that I always competed at was Ponderosa. This was a meet that required a swimmer to have one of the top times. I placed 1^st and 2^nd for the butterfly, backstroke and freestyle races for many years. From the age of 6 all the way up until I was 10 years old, I was consistently qualifying and winning these championship meets. I still hold records for the Eagle Springs Flyers which is so surreal to me considering the fact that I am 22 years old now.

Once summer league wasn’t a competition for me anymore, I was recruited onto a club team. I swam for a USA Swimming club team called Eagle Swimming Association (ESA). I was extremely nervous for change at the age of 12. But I honestly think that was the best move I could’ve made for myself because I continued to improve my times which led to me competing at a higher caliber.

On USA teams athletes train within certain age groups and then get divided up based on speed, technique and experience. Practices for ESA were much more advanced than summer league practices.

I was no longer competing at outside public pools but rather natatoriums that could hold thousands of people. This is the point where I came out of my shell and really showed my full potential which I was unaware of at the time.

TAGS was now the championship meet that I was competing at. TAGS stands for Texas Age Group Swimming. University natatoriums were where championship meets took place. I was in awe of Texas A&M’s natatorium but University of Texas’ natatorium is where I always did my best. (Yes, swimmers blame the pool for how good they do)

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

As a freshman in high school, I made the varsity swim team which was a huge accomplishment because usually swimmers have to work their way up to that spot from junior varsity. I made sure that I put as much effort into my school work as I did into swimming. That led me to achieving All-State Academic all 4 years of high school!

(Pats myself on the back)

 

 

HOW SWIMMING IMPACTED MY LIFE

As I mentioned previously, swimming was my life for 14 years. 14 YEARS

High school was rough for me when it came to practices, meets and school. I would get up at 5 am every morning to jump into a freezing cold pool by 5:30 am, attend classes from 7:25 am until 2:45 pm, then I would have about an hour to relax until I had a second practice for my club team at 4 pm.

Being a competitive swimmer gave me the opportunity to learn time-management. When will I have time to study? When will I have time to eat? Hell, when will I have time to sleep?

No matter how busy we are, I learned that it is extremely important to take care of ourselves. Sleep is critical to our health and well-being. Unfortunately, I think we all lack in that department when life gets crazy. I know for a fact college definitely impacted my sleep schedule more than swimming did. That’s why I reverted back to my knowledge from 5+ years ago. It is standard to get anywhere between 7-9 hours of sleep at night to function properly during the day. However, excessive amounts of sleep could actually cause you to be more tired.

In the midst of 2 practices and school, I learned how to meal prep at the age of 13. My mom taught me everything on how to prepare an omelette, grill chicken, make pasta, sauté vegetables, etc. I would meal prep my breakfast and lunch but when it came to dinner I would always ask my parents to take me to Chick-fil-a, Whataburger or Culvers. BALANCE.

EVERYONE HAS A PASSION. MINE WAS SWIMMING.

Any time that I would go to practice or swim meets, I was surrounded by amazing team mates and profound coaches. Team mates who pushed me when I wanted to slow down. Coaches that empowered me when I felt worthless. Swimming was my safe haven. I was pretty introverted when I was younger. I didn’t like talking in front of an audience and I got nervous quite frequently. But when it came to swimming in front of thousands of people, all of my nerves faded away. I was fierce in the water.

That confidence traveled with me throughout my college years. I was no longer introverted. I could talk to a group of 20+ people and be completely comfortable.

MY ADVICE TO YOU

Find your passion. Figure out what makes you happy and more importantly, what makes you confident. It may take you a while to discover your passion but that’s the beauty of it. Try new things that you typically wouldn’t try. Break away from routines. Don’t just exist in this world; LIVE. Don’t be opposed to learning new things. We learn something new every day whether we realize it or not. Why not learn more and more about OURSELVES by doing something we never expected to do.

RE-CAP

If you happen to be new, please take a quick minute to read my last post. It’s not life-changing or anything but I did give y’all a brief peek into my life along with my reasoning for starting this journey. If you’re too lazy, like me, I totally understand. I won’t tell you how to live your life.

I’M BACK AND READY TO CHAT

I feel like I teased y’all a little bit in the last post so I’m here to expand on my upbringing and go more in depth about what makes me Allie Vermylen.

So first things first, let’s address the fact that I’ve said “y’all” two times now lol. Yep, you guessed it, I’m a Texan. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas and I have yet to move out of the Lone Star State. No, I don’t wear cowboy boots every day and no, I don’t ride a horse to school. But I did grow up going to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year with my parents and two older brothers. My brothers along with my parents have always been a huge influence on me. In fact, they are the reason I found my passions in life.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

I grew up attending and supporting my brothers in all of their extracurricular activities. Nick’s band concerts, Nathan’s football games, and both of their swim meets and water polo games.

I saw how busy my brothers were all of the time and I wanted to be as diverse and active as they were. To this day, I remember standing on the side of the pool or the football field cheering and embarrassing both Nick and Nathan.

So I went on to be one of those kids who participated in numerous extracurricular activities starting at the age of 4 (dance, golf, volleyball, basketball, swim, etc). For some reason nothing made me as happy as swimming did.

I swam competitively for 14 years, attending 2 practices a day while going to school. Swim was my entire life. Everything I did revolved around practices and meets. I barely had time to hang out with friends outside of swimming which was frustrating at the time. Looking back, I am thankful for the drive and dedication I had for the sport. It translated into my everyday life.

With all of that being said, health and fitness was instilled in my everyday life at a very young age. Once I went off to college, I quickly realized that “freshman 15” was a real thing. Distractions got the best of me and I no longer had a strict workout routine and healthy diet in place. I lost all self-confidence and my health was in jeopardy thanks to Chickfila and Whataburger (you’ll soon be introduced to my out-of-hand addiction with Chickfila). After months of feeling bad about myself and watching the scale grow higher in numbers, I decided to get a hold of my life and turn my bad habits into healthy habits.

Be sure to tune in next time to hear more!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

INTRODUCTION

Greetings Everyone!

My name is Allie Vermylen. But if you want to get technical my full name is Alexandra Jacqueline Vermylen; the longest name known to mankind. If you can’t pronounce my last name, don’t be embarrassed. I’ve dealt with that my entire life.

Here’s a phonological representation of my last name just to clear the air —> Ver-my-len

You’re probably wondering where my last name originated from, which is to be expected because it isn’t a name you hear every day. Well I’m here to tell you that Vermylen just so happens to be Flemish. My dad was born and raised in Uccle, Belgium until he came to the United States when he was 18. I have always looked up to my father because when I was 18, I couldn’t imagine leaving home, nonetheless, the country. He always had a strong sense of bravery and courage.

Now that you know my name, don’t forget it.

You’ll hear a lot more about my dad as well as my mom because they are HUGE parts of my life.

BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER

I want to provide you with a little bit of background information about myself so hopefully, you have a better understanding of my purpose. Currently, I am a senior at the University of Houston C.T Bauer College of Business. After years of not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I finally decided to pursue my undergraduate degree in Marketing while minoring in Management. My marketing degree is exactly the reason as to why I am sitting here, right now, blogging.

As I power through my last semester of my undergraduate degree, I am tackling two time-consuming classes; Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Marketing. One of the assignments in my Social Media Marketing class is to market myself on various social media platforms. So if you haven’t already guessed, I am here to build my digital identity.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT TO SEE

Growing up, I was exposed to various sports that instilled such advantageous qualities that I am lucky to have today. I will be talking about and sharing personal challenges that I faced in my 22 years of living, milestones that I reached, how I found my happiness, as well as tips and tricks on how to love yourself and even lose weight.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Blogging is new to me but it has always been something that I’ve wanted to pursue. I want to use this platform as a creative outlet for my experiences, knowledge and thoughts. I welcome anyone and everyone to join my journey in hopes that I can teach, remind, empower, entertain and all around make a difference in someone’s life.

Be sure to subscribe and buckle up because things are going to get real here in Allie’s blog.