I only thought of it as something I could do during my spare time, but I started to see it differently when I joined a swimming club in my hometown of Bandung.

During elementary school, it was my parents who asked me to swim; they said swimming could help ease my asthma, so they took me to the pool regularly. I also spent lots of time with my friends at the pool when we were not studying.

Entering my first year in junior high, I rarely went to the pool, but I cannot remember why. But if a friend had not invited me to join a club in my second year, I would not see myself going on holiday and working at the same time.

In the club, my swimming coach told me that swimming could be a profession if one wanted to do it seriously. I then participated in competition after competition, from the interschool level to the regional one.

I started to become familiar with competitions, which in some way helped me understand my weaknesses and my strengths.

I admit I am a lazy person, but once I am involved in something, I know I can be very determined. For the recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, for instance, I needed to practice really hard.

It took months for me to do the warm-ups; I needed to take a semester-long break from my studies, as the training was in Australia. It was more intense there, but I just tried to enjoy it. I looked at the bright side of it: I got the chance to go traveling, pretending that I was on holiday then working.

But the hard work I did all paid off. Indonesia’s swimming contingent brought home several gold medals. It was amazing and I was very proud and excited to be able to contribute something to my country.

But the best is yet to come. The victory at the SEA Games was like a childhood dream came true, with hard work of course. And my next dream will be to do better at the Asian Games.

That means more hard work, time to improve my flaws and increase my strengths. But that also means time to have more fun as well.


Glenn is the gold medalist in the backstroke at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, Vientiane. He also set a new record for the men’s 50-meter butterfly at the 2008 National Games. He is currently studying management at Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung