I dang near drowned when I was 15. My baseball team had a practice called "Monday Run Days" a.k.a. "we're gonna have you run 5-6 miles every Monday afternoon as conditioning". One of those times, we ran down to the local bridge, and I got informed it was a thing for the rookies to jump into the river off the bridge, probably a 15-20' drop. This wouldn't have been a problem except it was May in Montana, and the river was nearly flood stage.
I was smart enough to not jump first, but not smart enough to notice the other kid jumped in the slack water below the bridge piling, not the main current. As I shot downstream, I panicked and started trying to swim across the river quartering upstream, not downstream, resulting in a huge struggle to fight the current. I made it to the corner of the island about 60 yards down, but I was spent. I took a lot of flak for it from the team after that. They thought I just couldn't swim, lol.
The worst part was when my dad found out, and went in and ratted the team out to the coaches. Probably the most alienating thing that could have happened.
I was smart enough to not jump first, but not smart enough to notice the other kid jumped in the slack water below the bridge piling, not the main current. As I shot downstream, I panicked and started trying to swim across the river quartering upstream, not downstream, resulting in a huge struggle to fight the current. I made it to the corner of the island about 60 yards down, but I was spent. I took a lot of flak for it from the team after that. They thought I just couldn't swim, lol.
The worst part was when my dad found out, and went in and ratted the team out to the coaches. Probably the most alienating thing that could have happened.
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