Thanks to everyone who replied to my post requesting info on participating in my first meet. Now, I have one more question: how do I choose which events to enter? I am currently a VERY SLOW swimmer. My 50 free times are on par with my teammates' 100 frees. My 200 free takes nearly four minutes, though competitive times in my age group are in the realm of 2:30 - 2:50. You get the picture. My dead grandmother can swim faster than me!
Despite my severe lack of speed, I have been strongly encouraged to participate in an upcoming meet. How do I choose an event since I am bad at everything? (Don't tell me to chose an event that I'd enjoy; I have no idea what that might be.)
Any suggestions?
What you swim also depends on what you want to accomplish. If all you want to do is get some times and swim something you're pretty sure you can swim, then just stick with the 50 and 100 freestyles. The problem with that is that everyone and his brother swims those events, so if you're looking to score points for your team, you might be better off with breaststroke or backstroke (providing, as Greg says, that you can swim those strokes legally). At my first Masters meet, lo those many years ago, I swam the four 50's. There were only two of us from my team at the meet so we had no concern about scoring points. That worked well for me because those weren't such exhausting events, and I then had some baseline times for future comparison. The most valuable result, though, was that I got over being scared. No one paid any attention to me, and certainly didn't make fun of me, and I realized I really could do this.
Sometimes those slow swimmers are willing to swim the events that other people don't want to swim, and wind up scoring points. My teammate Joyce McGuire (yes, the one with the guide dog who was just written about in SWIM) takes 47 minutes to swim the 1500 free, but because of her age she's bound to place in any event she finishes. So she scores! My times are much faster, but because I'm in the baby-boomer 45-49 age group, I'm not likely to score at Nationals. Just remember, there's no way you can possibly hurt your team, and you'll very likely help them. Lots of times they need a fourth person to fill out a relay. No matter how fast the other three people are, they can't do it without that fourth swimmer!
Go out there and swim something you know you can finish, have fun, and then bask in the praise of your teammates. You will have accomplished something that most Americans haven't!
Meg Smath
What you swim also depends on what you want to accomplish. If all you want to do is get some times and swim something you're pretty sure you can swim, then just stick with the 50 and 100 freestyles. The problem with that is that everyone and his brother swims those events, so if you're looking to score points for your team, you might be better off with breaststroke or backstroke (providing, as Greg says, that you can swim those strokes legally). At my first Masters meet, lo those many years ago, I swam the four 50's. There were only two of us from my team at the meet so we had no concern about scoring points. That worked well for me because those weren't such exhausting events, and I then had some baseline times for future comparison. The most valuable result, though, was that I got over being scared. No one paid any attention to me, and certainly didn't make fun of me, and I realized I really could do this.
Sometimes those slow swimmers are willing to swim the events that other people don't want to swim, and wind up scoring points. My teammate Joyce McGuire (yes, the one with the guide dog who was just written about in SWIM) takes 47 minutes to swim the 1500 free, but because of her age she's bound to place in any event she finishes. So she scores! My times are much faster, but because I'm in the baby-boomer 45-49 age group, I'm not likely to score at Nationals. Just remember, there's no way you can possibly hurt your team, and you'll very likely help them. Lots of times they need a fourth person to fill out a relay. No matter how fast the other three people are, they can't do it without that fourth swimmer!
Go out there and swim something you know you can finish, have fun, and then bask in the praise of your teammates. You will have accomplished something that most Americans haven't!
Meg Smath
