When I was 12 years old, my 5-foot-5-inch stature made me one of the taller girls in my grade. Therefore, I was automatically the center on my school's high-flying, star-studded basketball team.
Before one game, I came to the terrifying realization that I was going to have to guard a 6-foot center.
As interesting as my middle school basketball team was, this really isn't my point of the article. My point is that almost everyone had a similar experience to this from a childhood of playing sports.
And for some high school swimmers in Colorado, it means swimming against Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin.
According to a Wall Street Journal article this week, Franklin and her family turned down $3 million in endorsements to keep an amateur status and helped her high school win a state title.
The imagery of Franklin competing against high schoolers after swimming against — and beating the best in the word is quite funny. But there were some parents who did not find it quite so funny and thought Franklin should not be competing.
OK, let's take a chill pill. In the grand scheme of things, it's just high school swimming after all.
It's also probably a good lesson for young adults to learn: There will be times in life when people are exponentially better than they are. Mommy and daddy won't be able to do anything about it.
Sports will do that to ya. Every time.
Reach the columnist at mklau@asu.edu
