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.