My team, Rockwall Aquatic Masters is having a long course meet on 6th July and I am actively trying to convince team mates to sign up. On my blog I was describing my disappointment that more of my team mates had not signed up. One commenter posted the following, "Why do they have to participate? I have more fun going to practice than I do meets. I don't find meets fun anymore." I guess I had assumed that most people enjoy meets and I found it strange that my team mates did not want to sign up. This got me thinking and I wondered why people compete or don't compete? Any thoughts?
New swimmers: The key here is they don't want to be embarrassed thinking they will be in the same heat with the studs. When they find that they are seeded by their entry time regardless of sex or age it helps. I have never had a new swimmer who I have "coaxed" not thank me afterward as they have swum much faster than they ever did in practice.
I've actually been in the fastest heat in a couple of events. I'm not really a new swimmer, but I'm certainly not one that I'd consider a stud either.
It kind of freaked me out when I first saw it last year, in the fastest heat of the 1500 LCM free. I was honest with my seed time (what I thought I could do at least), and ended up being about 30 sec faster than I expected. Maybe seeing someone finish when I still had 200m to go helped, who knows ;)
Most of the time (80% I'd guess) that I don't do meets is because of scheduling. I already have plans to be out of town, I'm doing something else (I also cycle and do some running), etc. For people who complain about the lack of swim meets, there are even fewer cycling events locally, and it always seems that 2 cycling events are the same weekend as swim meets.
I far prefer an open water swim to a swim meet. You get in, swim, get out and you're done. No waiting around, looking at schedules, timing your eating/restroom breaks, etc. The first time I ran a marathon, I was shocked how I was home by noon, while it is rare I'm home by 2pm for most meets.
All this said, there are some meets I've gone out of my way to attend. The NE Masters SCM meet in Boston every December is simply awesome--from the timing to the pool to the number of swimmers. Even swimming back-to-back I get a reasonable amount of rest. It is big enough that I have plenty of competition, yet small enough that warm-up isn't too much of a CF. Plus there's several other forumites who attend and it is great to catch up with them in-person.
I experienced a swimmer snub once, at the only nationals I've swum at. It was enough to keep me away from meets all together for 7-8 years. But generally other swimmers at meets are very encouraging, and I try to be the same.
New swimmers: The key here is they don't want to be embarrassed thinking they will be in the same heat with the studs. When they find that they are seeded by their entry time regardless of sex or age it helps. I have never had a new swimmer who I have "coaxed" not thank me afterward as they have swum much faster than they ever did in practice.
I've actually been in the fastest heat in a couple of events. I'm not really a new swimmer, but I'm certainly not one that I'd consider a stud either.
It kind of freaked me out when I first saw it last year, in the fastest heat of the 1500 LCM free. I was honest with my seed time (what I thought I could do at least), and ended up being about 30 sec faster than I expected. Maybe seeing someone finish when I still had 200m to go helped, who knows ;)
Most of the time (80% I'd guess) that I don't do meets is because of scheduling. I already have plans to be out of town, I'm doing something else (I also cycle and do some running), etc. For people who complain about the lack of swim meets, there are even fewer cycling events locally, and it always seems that 2 cycling events are the same weekend as swim meets.
I far prefer an open water swim to a swim meet. You get in, swim, get out and you're done. No waiting around, looking at schedules, timing your eating/restroom breaks, etc. The first time I ran a marathon, I was shocked how I was home by noon, while it is rare I'm home by 2pm for most meets.
All this said, there are some meets I've gone out of my way to attend. The NE Masters SCM meet in Boston every December is simply awesome--from the timing to the pool to the number of swimmers. Even swimming back-to-back I get a reasonable amount of rest. It is big enough that I have plenty of competition, yet small enough that warm-up isn't too much of a CF. Plus there's several other forumites who attend and it is great to catch up with them in-person.
I experienced a swimmer snub once, at the only nationals I've swum at. It was enough to keep me away from meets all together for 7-8 years. But generally other swimmers at meets are very encouraging, and I try to be the same.
