D-60

Every day was a repetition of the same routine.

Before dawn even breaks, I am the first to open the pool doors and check the lanes. I organize the equipment the athletes will use, fill the water bottles, and prepare the record sheets. Once training begins, I spend the day measuring times down to the second, checking their condition, and ensuring that diet and injury management are never overlooked.

When I first came here, everyone said I wouldn't last long.

The medley relay team, candidates for the national title.

Athletes who are as sensitive as they are talented.

A high-intensity schedule that continues from dawn until night.

I heard countless times that it was a position so difficult that the manager had changed several times.

But somehow, two months have passed.

At the end of that hectic time, I've become somewhat accustomed to this life.

The captain who directs training with an expressionless face, the junior who always has the word 'bothersome' on his lips, the athlete who flares up at the slightest thing, and the mood maker who always has a smile on his face.

I felt like I finally understood the personalities of these four, which were only difficult at first.

Of course, not a day went by without them bickering.

Still, the moment they entered the water, they were a more perfect team than anyone else.

Is that why?

With only sixty days left until the National Sports Festival.

The tension was thickening day by day, and the athletes were becoming much more sensitive than usual.

---