Summary
Michael and Bob were in Athens, Greece. This meant that the 2004 Olympic Games were on. It was the time for Michael to show what he had been training for this whole time. Michael was rooming with the captain of the USA team, Lenny. When Michael needed to relax, he would watch Miracle. It was Michaels favorite movie. The Games had officially started and Michael was ready for his first race. It was a very close race, but Michaels hard training with Bob had officially paid of. Both Bob and him were happy with the results. It was Michaels first gold medal, and that was one of the happiest moments of Michaels life. But the Games were still on and Michael had other races that he needed training for. He knew at that moment that this Olympic Games were going to be a very huge success in his life. But the Games had just started. Eventually that one gold medal led to another gold medal, and that one led to another gold medal. Bob and Michael kept practicing after every race, because Michael needed all the training he could get. Not only that, but Michael also broke world records. The day after the 200 free was the only time during the Games that Michael had to swim two finals on the same evening. Even though he only had fourty minutes between races, Michael did his best to spend those minutes efficiently. Michael had won six individual events, what made him the first person to ever do that for the U.S team. By winning six gold medals and two bronze medals, he had made his dream come true. When the swimming competition was over, Michael finally had some time to spend watching other events, and he was finally able to take some time off the hard work training that he had been doing. Michael not only had accomplished his dream of winning one gold medal in the Olympics, but he had succeded way above it by winning eight medals overall in one Olympic Game. Now all he had to think about were the 2008 Olympic Games.
Quote
"I'll always regret not having a chance to race with him in Athens" (Phelps 268).
Michael said this after the news he got about Ian Thorpe retiring.
Reaction
This quote is very interesting. It is showing us how Michael feels about Ian Thorpe retiring form swimming. This quote is also showing us that Michael wanted to race Ian Thorpe, because he was one of the best that there had been, and to be the best, you have to defeat the best. And I think that is exactly what Phelps was trying to do.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Beneath The Surface 147-196
Summary
"When Bob and I have our worst arguments, they're over by the next day, sometimes by the next hour...because he respects how hard I work and i respect how much he knows" (Phelps 152). Bob and Michael argue with each other a lot and sometimes they use each other as an excuse to take their anger off, but this only happens because they know how much they need each other and they can not function without a good relation. Bob trains Michael to become one of the greatest swimmers there have ever been, and Michael pays him back by breaking world records and winning championships. This makes them depend on each other. Without Bob Michael would haven't won all the medals he has won and without Michael, Bob wouldn't have been able to become such a successful trainer. But Bob and Michael also have a good relationship outside of swimming. They are there for each other. When Michael needed help Bob was there and Michael was there when something in Bob's life was going the other way. Bob and Michael would talk about school, friends, girls, family, music and other things like that. "I relied on him for the kind of counsel a father gives to his son" (Phelps 165). Bob was like a father to Michael. He had been a big impact on Michael, not only in his career but also in his life. Bob had helped him go through bad times and he had been there to celebrate with Michael on his happiest moments, just like a father. When Bob got an invite for a job in Michigan, he was happy about it, but he didn't want to break up the team between him and Michael. Michael was not happy about it, but he knew this was life and hard decisions had to be made.
Quote
"Would Bob have an interest in inteviewing for the upcoming vacancy, Jon wanted to know" (Phelps 161).
Reaction
When I first read this quote, I was surprised. I didn't think that Bob would ever be interested in another job, since his relation with Michael was so good. He had become as a father to Michael. But, for Bob, the job opportunity was tempting. He wanted the job because he would work there for a lot of years to come, but with Michael his career would be over in four or maximum eight years. This is going to be a hard decision for Bob because he had been such an impact in Michaels life and career, and he didnt wan't this relation to change.
"When Bob and I have our worst arguments, they're over by the next day, sometimes by the next hour...because he respects how hard I work and i respect how much he knows" (Phelps 152). Bob and Michael argue with each other a lot and sometimes they use each other as an excuse to take their anger off, but this only happens because they know how much they need each other and they can not function without a good relation. Bob trains Michael to become one of the greatest swimmers there have ever been, and Michael pays him back by breaking world records and winning championships. This makes them depend on each other. Without Bob Michael would haven't won all the medals he has won and without Michael, Bob wouldn't have been able to become such a successful trainer. But Bob and Michael also have a good relationship outside of swimming. They are there for each other. When Michael needed help Bob was there and Michael was there when something in Bob's life was going the other way. Bob and Michael would talk about school, friends, girls, family, music and other things like that. "I relied on him for the kind of counsel a father gives to his son" (Phelps 165). Bob was like a father to Michael. He had been a big impact on Michael, not only in his career but also in his life. Bob had helped him go through bad times and he had been there to celebrate with Michael on his happiest moments, just like a father. When Bob got an invite for a job in Michigan, he was happy about it, but he didn't want to break up the team between him and Michael. Michael was not happy about it, but he knew this was life and hard decisions had to be made.
Quote
"Would Bob have an interest in inteviewing for the upcoming vacancy, Jon wanted to know" (Phelps 161).
Reaction
When I first read this quote, I was surprised. I didn't think that Bob would ever be interested in another job, since his relation with Michael was so good. He had become as a father to Michael. But, for Bob, the job opportunity was tempting. He wanted the job because he would work there for a lot of years to come, but with Michael his career would be over in four or maximum eight years. This is going to be a hard decision for Bob because he had been such an impact in Michaels life and career, and he didnt wan't this relation to change.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Beneath The Surface 96-147
Summary
Life as a Pro talks about how Michael needed an agent to represent him. His mom, Bob and him went to different agencies and noone impressed them. They visited McLean, in Virginia, which was a large agency that represented Olympic Athletes. They were talking to diffeernt agents and they were going to leave, when one day Bob was watching the Today Show and saw an interview of Peter. Bob told Michael that Peter got what Olympic Athletes had to do and he was going to be the perfect agent for him. They arranged a metting with him a month later because Peter was busy with some other player that had just come back from the Olympic Games and had won Olympic medals. When the meeting started Michael let his mom and Bob talk to Peter but then after 20 minutes Peter asked Michael a question. "Michael, what are your goals?"(Phelps 106) This quote is telling us that Peter wanted to see what Michael wanted to do with his life to see if Michael was going to be able to be his new player or no. After the metting broke up, Peter started talking to Michael alone. He was asking Michael all types of questions like, what type of music do you like, his hobbies, what videogames Michael played. He was asking Michael a lot of different questions aout him, because he wanted to learn as much as he could about Michael and this is showing us that Peter was interested in Michael. Michael really liked Peter and they decided to hire him immediately. As soon as they started working together, Peter arranged media meetings for Michael because he wanted Michael to be comfortable with the media when Michael was going to win medals and championships. Once that started happening, Michael started signing t-shirts and he was giving outographs to people and he would get phone calls from random people that he didnt know. At the Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale, Michael set off and American record andche was close to the world record. That is when Michael realized what not training hard would do to him, and from that moment on he was doing whatever Bob would ask Michael to, because he knew that Bob was only trying to help Michael improve. But all the hard work that Michael and Bob had been doing paid off because Michael was voted U.S Swimmer of the Year and Bob the U.S Coach of the Year.
Quote
"After that i read the book pretty intensely, passed the written test, got my learner's permit and everntually got my license in time for senior year. Ah, freedom." (Phelps 113).
Reaction
I thought that since Michael was now becoming famous he would have people drive him around. Michael took the test for his permit twice and he failed both times because he was too lazy to read the book, but when people started making fun of him, then he couldn't support it anymore and read the book and finally passed the test. This is telling is that if you dont do what you are supposed to, then you are going to face the consquences.
Life as a Pro talks about how Michael needed an agent to represent him. His mom, Bob and him went to different agencies and noone impressed them. They visited McLean, in Virginia, which was a large agency that represented Olympic Athletes. They were talking to diffeernt agents and they were going to leave, when one day Bob was watching the Today Show and saw an interview of Peter. Bob told Michael that Peter got what Olympic Athletes had to do and he was going to be the perfect agent for him. They arranged a metting with him a month later because Peter was busy with some other player that had just come back from the Olympic Games and had won Olympic medals. When the meeting started Michael let his mom and Bob talk to Peter but then after 20 minutes Peter asked Michael a question. "Michael, what are your goals?"(Phelps 106) This quote is telling us that Peter wanted to see what Michael wanted to do with his life to see if Michael was going to be able to be his new player or no. After the metting broke up, Peter started talking to Michael alone. He was asking Michael all types of questions like, what type of music do you like, his hobbies, what videogames Michael played. He was asking Michael a lot of different questions aout him, because he wanted to learn as much as he could about Michael and this is showing us that Peter was interested in Michael. Michael really liked Peter and they decided to hire him immediately. As soon as they started working together, Peter arranged media meetings for Michael because he wanted Michael to be comfortable with the media when Michael was going to win medals and championships. Once that started happening, Michael started signing t-shirts and he was giving outographs to people and he would get phone calls from random people that he didnt know. At the Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale, Michael set off and American record andche was close to the world record. That is when Michael realized what not training hard would do to him, and from that moment on he was doing whatever Bob would ask Michael to, because he knew that Bob was only trying to help Michael improve. But all the hard work that Michael and Bob had been doing paid off because Michael was voted U.S Swimmer of the Year and Bob the U.S Coach of the Year.
Quote
"After that i read the book pretty intensely, passed the written test, got my learner's permit and everntually got my license in time for senior year. Ah, freedom." (Phelps 113).
Reaction
I thought that since Michael was now becoming famous he would have people drive him around. Michael took the test for his permit twice and he failed both times because he was too lazy to read the book, but when people started making fun of him, then he couldn't support it anymore and read the book and finally passed the test. This is telling is that if you dont do what you are supposed to, then you are going to face the consquences.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Beneath The Surface (Phelps 52-96)
Summary
"Breaking Out" talks about Michael and his trainer Bob and their relationship. Michael was tired of all the practicing that he had been doing over and over again. One day Bob told Michael to do 15 set of 50's like everyone else in his team. Michael got tired through the half and he slowed down a little bit, but his teammates who were behind him were telling him to go faster which was something he couldn't do. Bob got mad at him for slowing down and not getting back on the same speed he started and told Michael to come off the pool and that he wasn't goin to be on the team until he finished. Michael didn't really think that Bob was serious. "Bob got on the phone with mom and schedule a 5:30 a.m meeting with my parents and me for the next day. It was as fun as going to the dentist."(Phelps 52). This quote shows us that Bob was being serious and that Michael needed to finish the sets or else he was going to be in trouble. In the '99 juniors in Orlando, Michael finished in the top four three times and he beat his own record for the 200 fly by 10 seconds. Bob was very proud of him and he was congratulating him. Bob also told him that winning first place might have been bad luck for him. This is showing us the improvement in Bobs relationship with Michael. This was something that Bob didnt really tell Michael and Michael was going to hear it in a long time. When they got back home they started training again. Bob had told Michael that it was going to be his reating day but when they arrived at the pool Bob told him that he needed to get ready because they were going to practice. MIchael told Bob that he didnt have his suit with him and he got on the car with Michael and they went to his house so Michael could get his suit.This is explaining to us that what happed in Orlando wasn't going to happen again and that now MIchael had to go back to the training and to the yelling.
Quote
"Later, my English teacher Jeff Brotman welomed me back and asked in a jest, Michael, do you have any excuse for your absences."(Phelps 84).
Reaction
I was surprised by this quote because even though Michael Phelps had just come back from winning an Olympic medal, he was still treated like he was just another student by his teacher. I was surprised because now he still had to go to school, do homework and live a normal life like everyone else. I didn't think that Michael was going to back to school because he had started his Olymic career at such an early age and he had more Olympic medals for him to come. So why would he go back to school when he could spend that time practicing for his next matches and the next Olympic Games?
"Breaking Out" talks about Michael and his trainer Bob and their relationship. Michael was tired of all the practicing that he had been doing over and over again. One day Bob told Michael to do 15 set of 50's like everyone else in his team. Michael got tired through the half and he slowed down a little bit, but his teammates who were behind him were telling him to go faster which was something he couldn't do. Bob got mad at him for slowing down and not getting back on the same speed he started and told Michael to come off the pool and that he wasn't goin to be on the team until he finished. Michael didn't really think that Bob was serious. "Bob got on the phone with mom and schedule a 5:30 a.m meeting with my parents and me for the next day. It was as fun as going to the dentist."(Phelps 52). This quote shows us that Bob was being serious and that Michael needed to finish the sets or else he was going to be in trouble. In the '99 juniors in Orlando, Michael finished in the top four three times and he beat his own record for the 200 fly by 10 seconds. Bob was very proud of him and he was congratulating him. Bob also told him that winning first place might have been bad luck for him. This is showing us the improvement in Bobs relationship with Michael. This was something that Bob didnt really tell Michael and Michael was going to hear it in a long time. When they got back home they started training again. Bob had told Michael that it was going to be his reating day but when they arrived at the pool Bob told him that he needed to get ready because they were going to practice. MIchael told Bob that he didnt have his suit with him and he got on the car with Michael and they went to his house so Michael could get his suit.This is explaining to us that what happed in Orlando wasn't going to happen again and that now MIchael had to go back to the training and to the yelling.
Quote
"Later, my English teacher Jeff Brotman welomed me back and asked in a jest, Michael, do you have any excuse for your absences."(Phelps 84).
Reaction
I was surprised by this quote because even though Michael Phelps had just come back from winning an Olympic medal, he was still treated like he was just another student by his teacher. I was surprised because now he still had to go to school, do homework and live a normal life like everyone else. I didn't think that Michael was going to back to school because he had started his Olymic career at such an early age and he had more Olympic medals for him to come. So why would he go back to school when he could spend that time practicing for his next matches and the next Olympic Games?
Friday, October 1, 2010
Phelps 1-52
Summary
Michael Phelps is one of the worlds greatest swimmers. He first got interested in swimming at an early age of 7. At first he was scared of getting his face wet in the pool but his neighbour, who was also his trainer taught him how to swim by making him swim with his back first, so that this way he couldn't see how deep the pool was. His career started with a small, informal kick race. His first won was when he was swimming in an open water-mile contest in the Chesapeake Bay. When he would go to Zone meets to see his sisters Whitney and Hilary go to places like Princeton, New Jersey. and Gloucester for swimming tournaments he would fit in there. When he was younger people would make fun of him about his ears. He used to hate his ears because they were to big and he would try to cover them by putting hats on. He always appreciated people who were patient an supportive. His third grade teacher had a big impact on him. Instead of telling him what to do, she would ask him what he wanted to do and he really appreciated that. But swimming wasn't the only sport that he played. He had a collection of ribbons in his room for baseball and running and other sports. Tom Hines, his first coach didn't really like Michael at first but he realized that Michael was special. He was ineterested in swimming and that he was very passionate about it.
Quote
"I'm not sure if it was because of my big ears or short attention span, but i always appreciated people who were patient and supportive and i always identified with underdogs." (Phelps 20).
Reaction
My reaction to this quote was that this quite is very powerful. The author is saying that he "always appreciated people that were patient and supportive" because he would learn a lot from them. We also can learn a lot from this quote also because if we are behind on a race or in a game, then we need to be patient because this way we will be able to come back and have a shot at winning.
Michael Phelps is one of the worlds greatest swimmers. He first got interested in swimming at an early age of 7. At first he was scared of getting his face wet in the pool but his neighbour, who was also his trainer taught him how to swim by making him swim with his back first, so that this way he couldn't see how deep the pool was. His career started with a small, informal kick race. His first won was when he was swimming in an open water-mile contest in the Chesapeake Bay. When he would go to Zone meets to see his sisters Whitney and Hilary go to places like Princeton, New Jersey. and Gloucester for swimming tournaments he would fit in there. When he was younger people would make fun of him about his ears. He used to hate his ears because they were to big and he would try to cover them by putting hats on. He always appreciated people who were patient an supportive. His third grade teacher had a big impact on him. Instead of telling him what to do, she would ask him what he wanted to do and he really appreciated that. But swimming wasn't the only sport that he played. He had a collection of ribbons in his room for baseball and running and other sports. Tom Hines, his first coach didn't really like Michael at first but he realized that Michael was special. He was ineterested in swimming and that he was very passionate about it.
Quote
"I'm not sure if it was because of my big ears or short attention span, but i always appreciated people who were patient and supportive and i always identified with underdogs." (Phelps 20).
Reaction
My reaction to this quote was that this quite is very powerful. The author is saying that he "always appreciated people that were patient and supportive" because he would learn a lot from them. We also can learn a lot from this quote also because if we are behind on a race or in a game, then we need to be patient because this way we will be able to come back and have a shot at winning.
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