Matthew Coonradt
Summer
The best feeling in life is the feeling of accomplishment… after loss. I have lost many
battles and I know what it feels like to go home without the trophy. I don’t think that if I went
home with a trophy every time that I would have learned as much. I would have never felt
below another, and I would have never learned the compassion that comes with competition.
I remember going to Kearns swimming pool when I was young and learning how to do a
cooler trick off of a higher platform every time I went. Me and my friend Jeremy would go every
single day and would compete against each other making it such a beautiful thing to be there. I
am pretty sure that I would never have been at the pool after the few first times going if we
didn’t find this beautiful thing.
As soon as Jeremy and I got there the first thing we did was race each other to the
highest platform every day. Once we had jumped off the top, we decided to get more creative.
We were going to try to do backflips and front flips. So we practiced going off the low and high
dives first doing all sorts of crazy twists and turns in the air to make our tricks look cooler than
one another’s.
The top of the diving board is where I now stand. It made so much sense to me to be up
there. I felt a sense of belonging and pride and just being watched by others waiting to see
what I did made me feel great. They were so interested in me! So I would jump and do my best
every time only to do better the next.
Matthew Coonradt
It started to seem like Jeremy had more creativity in his tricks. He was doing things that
would almost cross the line of getting us kicked out! So I set out to do something new that I
knew he wouldn’t be able to do. I was going to do a gainer (a backflip while moving forwards)
off of the high dive. I told him what I was going to do and when I got up there it was a little
more nerve-racking than I expected. I couldn’t do it… I did a normal backflip and got out of the
water.
Jeremy climbed up the ladder. As soon as he got to the top I was able to see the smirk
on his face. He was going to do it. And sure enough, he did the trick that I was going to make
myself proud of for doing before he did. I had to move to the platform with the tricks now and
show him that I had more guts than he did. So I moved my way up the stairs and he followed.
He was curious if I was going to really do it or not, so he stayed quiet and waited. Then
we waited. And we waited. Then the flag went up for my turn to go. The same feeling came
back as before. I couldn’t do it. This time I froze and stood there for a while while everyone sat
and watched me drop balls. I couldn’t do it. I walked back and let someone else go.
As I walked back I was approached by an older man that had noticed our competition
with each other. He realized that I was starting to get nervous. This man will always be
remembered for what he did that day. “I see you’re trying to do a new trick. Well I have the
same problem, I have never done a one and a half off of the platform. I’ll tell you what…” he
paused. “I’ll do my trick if you do yours. I want to see you beat your friend.” So I thought about
it and took the deal.
Matthew Coonradt
As soon as the flag raised I realized it was the time to show that I am a strong brave
person to everyone at the pool. I approached the edge of the platform, turned around, and
landed the perfect backflip. Soon after I saw the man perform his one and a half. This was
overwhelmed with excitement. I had one after being thought of in my own mind as a loser.
This, plus I helped another do the same. What a great day.
I waited and waited for Jeremy to go, but I received a tap on the shoulder and I realized
he walked back down the stairs. Now that I had gone from losing to winning, I decided to share
the feeling with Jeremy. “If you do the backflip, I’ll do a double,” I said to him. He agreed and
we walked up the stairs and we got it done. And that was how the rest of the day went. And
that day turned into the rest of my summer as well as some new freckles and a lot of sunburns
as well as cute girls’ numbers.
This has shown me a lot. I feel as though this was probably the best summer of my life
so far. Me and Jeremy worked together as a team but also against each other to give me this
wonderful feeling of accomplishment. I became a leader that day and it wouldn’t have felt as
good if he hadn’t won first. This goes to show that loss can lead to a more beautiful and
accomplished victory.