Avery Barrett

“So this is a ‘TTI’, the time I was being very stupid and drowned as a child. So, this isn’t as serious as it sounds, but it’s serious enough. When I was younger I was a huge swimmer and I took swimming lessons for the longest time. Eventually, I got put on a swim team and I remember—I think this was 3rd grade or so, and this was the first couple practices in—my coach scheduled a practice for all these older swimmers, and invited the younger ones to come if they wanted. None of them came but me because I wanted to swim with the big kids and my brother.

“On this certain practice, there was a strength test going on. I was supposed to try it. The strength test was that my coach put a cinder block on the bottom of a 12 foot deep pool. Now, me being the idiot 3rd grader I was, was totally cool with the idea of diving down and trying to get the cinder block because I was totally confident that I could bring it back up, which is such a lie. I was so weak, there was no way I was getting that thing out of the water, but nevertheless, I tried.

“So when it came to my turn to dive down and grab the cinder block, I dove, a perfect dive might I add. I went all the way down, no problem, and I grab this block. Everybody else was able to pull it up just fine, and I got about halfway up and realized I wasn’t moving anymore. No matter how hard I tried to kick, I was so mad because I couldn’t get this block out of the damn water. I wasn’t about to go up there without the block because everyone got the block but me. I stayed under there for about a minute and a half trying to get this stupid block out of the water. All I remember is everything turned really really bright and then black.

“My coach had pulled me out of the pool and I was on the deck side. My eyes opened up really quick, everything was super bright, and I started coughing up a ton of water. She just kinda hit my shoulder and she’s like, ‘Hey, are you ok?’ and I was like, ‘Yes, Jessica, I’m perfectly fine,’ but I was embarrassed and so mad that I couldn’t get that block out of the water. The lesson here is: don’t push yourself to do something you can’t do because you might end up drowning in a stupid swimming pool.”