Once in a Blue Pool...

You guessed it, this post is about blue (It also may include something about me and the sport that has taken over my life).

When I think of blue I always think of swim and when I think of swim I always think of where I started and where I have gone.  I have been a competitive swimmer since I was seven and have spent at least three days a week at the pool since I was four.  My team is like my family and the building is practically my house.

Picture of my Second home
Courtesy of Park City Swimming

It's not really about blue, it's really about me. When I was little I had really bad anxiety. Most new things scared me; it was social stuff, talking, meeting new people, being alone, big groups, etc., and I distinctly remember my first day on the "junior team" as a turning point in how I understood myself.

It was terrifying to say the least. While everyone else got into the pool for tryouts I stood there clinging to my mom tears streaming down my face. My mom left me standing at the edge of the pool and walked away, telling me I could do it.  To give her some credit my mother was really trying to let me calm myself down enough to get into the pool.

I was about to just give up and leave when one of the coaches (some of you probably know him, bald head, loud voice, yells a lot?) came over and asked what was wrong.  When I couldn't talk, he smiled and said, " Why don't you come over here with me and we can practice a little bit?" He took me over to the other side of the pool, away from everyone and told me to do a couple of laps. After I had calmed down a bit he led me back over to the group and I jumped right into the pool for the rest of tryouts.

It was a true blue moment for me and the start of something great!

Me (age 7), with a friend, and some random photobombed at practice
Photo courtesy of my mother

Swimmers are a different breed.  They are about times, cuts, technique and of course, practice.  You have to really like something a lot to do it over and over and over and over, and over again.  But those repetitions have taught me something. No matter how hard or scary something may seem there is always a way to work through it if you are willing to keep going.  When I swim I don't have to think about where I am going, I spend time working through problems or vent my emotions into the water, I just swim and when I am done I feel so much better. Which is why every time I see that blue water I get the feeling that everything will be alright. Why is pool water blue anyway?


Have you ever wondered why water is blue? Well I know that water outside is blue because it reflects the sky, but why is pool water blue? The blue color is apparently a property of water, created by white light and colored wavelengths. It shows up at a certain depth in our perception (although I was unable to figure out just how deep you have to be to see blue.

Photo Courtesy of Brinvy

The deeper water is, the bluer it gets, the opposite is also true. The thinner water is the clearer it gets. Think about the difference between the ocean and a glass of water!

Photo Made by me via PicCollage

I found out that at about one hundred to two hundred meters under the ocean, blue becomes the only color in water,  because all other color wavelengths begin to fade away and a deep, rich, blue is left.

200 meters under
(Photo Courtesy of Scuba School)

I hope you enjoy blue as much as I do (hey that rhymes!). Blue has been an important color to me for a very long time. It is also my favorite color and reminds me of all my favorite places (ocean, pool, etc.).