:badday:I just got back from practice and basically the coach told me I'd get more out of swim lessons than masters. I thought I was doing pretty well, but I guess he was blowing smoke up my skirt (or swimsuit) when he told me that during my first practice. Basically, if I don't want to swim with other people, masters probably isn't for me.
I feel badly because I thought I'd found a home with this team. I know he's trying to do his best for me and is willing to give me lessons to improve my technique and get me comfortable enough to swim with the other beginners. But it feels like I've been sent to remedial swim class. So my confidence has been completely deflated. I joined masters because I thought I'd get a better workout than swimming alone. I know being in the lane with others makes you push yourself more, and I was working my way to that, and he said he wants me on his team. But honestly, I'm not interested in being on a team. I just want to get in the freakin' pool and swim for fitness.
I joined masters because I thought I'd get a better workout than swimming alone. I know being in the lane with others makes you push yourself more, and I was working my way to that
Does this mean you've been swimming with a masters team, but thus far you've been swimming separately from everyone else? I can see that this would be difficult for a coach.
It sounds like you want a personal coach. I know that kind of thing is available online. If you're just looking for practices to do on your own check out the workout section of the forum. It's pretty hard for a masters coach to have to individualize workouts if they've already got a variety of swimmers in the water.
Yes, but I've only been to three practices, and I swim in the lane right next to the others. Actually, my first two practices, there was another woman in that lane, and she was alone. The coach was happy to work with her. Probably because she was good. And was looking to compete. He gives me a set, and I do my best. It's a small team, so it's not like he has to watch a dozen people. I'm not asking for special treatment.
Initially, he said he had no issues with me swimming alone, and he'd work with me as long as it took to get comfortable enough to swim with other people. And he said I was doing fine and my technique was as good if not better than the folks in the beginner lane. Now I shouldn't even be in the masters.
Most of us who are learning to swim as adults come with baggage because if we didn't have any, we'd have learned sooner. We can be awkward and uncoordinated, and require some encouragement. Not a lot, but some. I don't see how getting virtually kicked out of masters is supposed to encourage me.
I hear what you are saying, but I also think this statement: "Basically, if I don't want to swim with other people, masters probably isn't for me." is true. Masters teams are for those who want to swim as part of a team. Hard for us to really gauge the situation, but it seems to me like he feels as if you aren't willing to swim with others in the pool.
I don't see how getting virtually kicked out of masters is supposed to encourage me.
I don't suppose it will fuel the fire in you to prove him wrong (and get you over the mental hump about swimming with others)? Honestly, you might benefit from a more one-on-one situation for awhile until you can get past your "baggage" issues. It's unfortunate if the communication in this situation has made you feel bad :( It's never fun to have your expectations shot down. Don't just give up, though. There are many options out there...
gobears, you're right, and so is the coach. If he wasn't interested in working with me until I was comfortable getting into a lane with others, he should have said something up front.
Honestly, it's not that I'm unaccustomed to getting knocked around. I trained shoto kan karate for eight years and I got knocked around plenty. I even did a couple of tournaments. I always had some ghastly looking bruise somewhere. But I'm not comfortable enough in the water yet to get knocked around without some panic setting in.
From the comments that I'm getting here, perhaps I'm not suited to masters. I don't know, though, why masters says it's trying to encourage adults to swim, when in fact the expectation is that if you want to be with a masters team, you'd better be fine getting whacked and shoved against the ropes.
It may just be that this coach doesn't think he has either the time or the ability to get you to the point where you are comfortable and that private lessons would be a better place for that. When coaching a masters practice there are so many things you are doing at once with different swimmers of different speeds and goals and specialties - he may just not feel up to the task.
As for getting whacked and shoved - outside of a hugely crowded meet warm up I haven't ever really had that experience. Most swimmers try to be polite when passing. Are you sure it's as bad as you think? I think, if you get more comfortable in the water, you'll find that it isn't that bad...
Hi Denise. I'm a coach (and swimmer) on one of the other teams in the DC area. From my perspective as a coach in this area, one of the biggest issues we face is lane utilization. Lane space is at a premium here, especially in the Alexandria area. We've got four lanes at the practices I coach, and often times the rest of the pool is taken up with age group teams, swim lessons, and lap swimmers. In our case, we just flat out can't accommodate folks who are not comfortable swimming in a lane with other swimmers, since we don't have available lanes in which to spread out. I've gotten in trouble before when taking an extra lane to allow our beginners to spread out, so I imagine your coach has come up against the same issue. The folks in our novice lane have mostly all been on the team since I started coaching a few years ago. Honestly, one of the biggest struggles for me as a coach has been integrating new folks who aren't up to the speed/distance requirements of the novice lane. I try to accommodate and encourage all new folks, but we just don't have the luxury of having extra lane space in which to spread out and give folks who're coming in under our established novice swimmers' ability level. We've had a fair amount of new novice swimmers come for a few weeks and then not return, and I've been banging my head on a wall for a couple years trying to figure out how to prevent that.
Regarding your desire to have some sort of a coach, I'll echo what others have said and encourage you to look into private coaches. A masters team is just that, a team. Absolutely nothing wrong with just wanting to swim by yourself (heck, 2 of the practices I swim each week are just me swimming on my own), but part of joining a swim team entails swimming in a lane with other folks. I know quite a few folks at all ability levels who only swim on their own, so if you're not quite ready to make the jump to swimming with a team, I hope you can find a coach who could help develop your technique and aerobic capacity. I think that everyone's got a place in the water, it's just up to you whether it's by yourself or with a team.
I hope my perspective has helped!
habu987, thank you for your comments (and having my favorite Dr. Who for your avatar LOL). I do hear what you're saying, but where I swim, it's not at all crowded and there's hardly ever anyone swimming in the lanes we don't use. So it isn't a question of space. I told the coach before I ever came to the first practice that I'm concerned about swimming with others. And that I'm not comfortable in deep water. At first he seemed on board, and in fact, the pool is mostly shallow (but strangely, the novice swimmers are in the one deep lane). I'd worked out with him before I set foot in the pool that I'd swim on my own until I had enough aerobic capacity and confidence to jump in with others. The reason I joined masters is that a coach told me I'd get a better workout and better instruction than taking lessons.
If you know the DC/Alex area, you know how crowded practices can be. I made the mistake of getting into a lane with five other people at an early practice, and yes, I got pushed into the ropes and whacked, and I wasn't ready for it. I have, actually, shared lanes with folks at my rec center, and it's never been a big deal. I can swim with others, just not a lot of others, and I always feel like I'm holding people up.
I think it's rather difficult for most folks here on the boards to sympathize if you've been swimming/coaching for a while, and many of you have probably been swimming since at least high school. I don't object to taking lessons. I have had a couple private lessons and taken county classes, which to be honest aren't the greatest (overcrowded and you get half the lane). I think it's that I felt like I'd been doing well and there was a place for me here, and now I find there is not. Two coaches have told me I'm a good swimmer. So maybe this one doesn't agree.
