Essay Proposal

I'm a diver, and my greatest goal is to earn a medal at the 2008 Olympics. This journey requires not only rigerous training, but also quite a bit of soul searching. My personality is pretty low-key - I'm happy to compromise, and i'm relatively content no matter what. My coach worries that I don't want it enough - he says I'm too "stable" to be really good - I don't "want" to win enough, and I don't get miserable enough when I lose because there are so many other things that make me happy. Even my dad, with whom I share my easygoing outlook on life, says he has "never seen an olympic champion who wasn't sort of a freak."
For my long essay, I'm going to describe my experience at nationals a few weeks ago while at the same time, drawing in elements from my past and non-diving-related facets of my personality. I'll try to describe my complex relationship with my coach, and I'm really going to dig deep, analyzing my own motives, and his, to try to find out how diving - specifically, diving at such a high level - has changed my own outlook on life. Should I consciously try to increase the intensity and dedication? Do I really need to change to reach my goal of an Olympic medal? And if so, how do I do that?

This is a link to the website of a good friend of mine, Laura Wilkinson, who's won gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships. I think that looking at the personal websites and journals of others who have made / are making the same journey as I am might help me.

This website provides an overview of sports psychology practices, and gives information on goal setting, imagery, focus, and flow.

How does diving coaching border on life coaching? How has my growth as a diver paralleled my growth as a human being?