2 she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions．Now, at age 34, her 3 was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast．
On that fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so thick that she could hardly see her support boats．
Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer 4 encouragement．They told her it wasn’t much farther．But 5 she could see was fog．They pushed her not to give up．She never had thought of giving up 6 then．With only a half mile to go, she asked to be 7 ．
Still warming her frozenbody several hours later, she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not 8 myself, but if I could have seen 9 I might have made it．” It was nottirednessor 10 the cold water that beat her．It was the fog．She was 11 to see her goal．
Two months later, she tried again．This time, despite the same thick fog, she swam with her 12 and her goal 13 pictured in her mind．She knew that 14 behind that fog was land and this time she 15 !
Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, breaking the men’s record by two hours!
In my third year as a high school athletics coach, I gave a speech telling students and parents about the benefits of football．I gave the same 1 each year, aimin g at recruiting(招收)new team members．I talked about 2 football wasn't just for 3 athletes and how everyone could 4 from it．This year, a 5 looking couple approached me after my speech．They said their son really wanted to play football．They had tried to 6 him out of it, but he had his heart 7 on joining the team．
When they told me his name, my heart sank．Michael was five feet and ten inches tall and weighed about 108 pounds．He was a 8 boy, the constant target of other kids' jokes, and as far as I knew he had never 9 sports．I knew he would never 10 it through football practice, let 11 as a player．But we told them we could give it a try．
On the opening day of practice, Michael was the first player on the field, we did 30 minutes of warming-up 12 starting a one-mile jog around the track．I 13 my eye on Michael．At 50 yards he fell, and I helped him to his feet．“Michael,”I said,“Why don't you just 14 the mile?”He said in tears that he wanted to run with the others, so I let him go on． 15 he fell, but each time 16 himself up．
The same thing happened every day for weeks, and Michael gained strength both 17 and physically．By the last week of practice, Michael could run the mile without falling, we had 18 only one game that season, 19 the team cheered louder for Michael's run than the victory they had, Afterward, Michael approached me, and I told him how 20 I was of him．
