: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.
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!
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!
