Hey everyone, this is my first post here. I'm a 20 y/o male and have just recently gotten into swimming. I swam in 8th grade and was pretty average but have no swim team experience otherwise. I've ran cross country, track, wrestled, powerlifted, and played basketball before for what it's worth.
I go to a community college and was recently thinking that it might be fun to join their swim team. I'm decently athletic and learn fast, but obviously having just started swimming, I'm terrible. Haha I mean I can do the strokes somewhat (butterfly is iffy), and have some endurance, but that's about it, very very basic stuff.
I was wondering how feasible it might be to join? There aren't try-outs and the off-season training (summer and fall, then meets start in February), etc. is open for all students, but from what I've heard about the coach, she doesn't like having newbies join (understandably). What do you guys think? If I train my butt off for the forseeable future, is there an spot for me on the team? Should I contact the coach/participate in off-season training or train by myself first? Should I forget about it and continue to swim for fun anyway and/or join a class? (I'll continue to swim regardless ha).
Sorry for all the questions... I guess what I'm asking for is maybe some benchmarks to know when/if I'll ever be ready to join without wasting the coach's time?
Thanks for reading. Apologies for the silly/newbie questions. :)
***I don't mean any offense to those future/current/past college swimmers who've swam for years by thinking I could possibly join... I know I'd be one of if not the slowest on the team and am okay with that, I just want to push myself and have fun playing a sport again***
From my experience, college coaches in general are very narrow minded, and unless you're a star already, won't entertain even talking to you. Hopefully you'll find an exception, but even if not, the most important thing you can do is be self motivated, consider swimming as a life time activity, do all you can to enjoy it on your own, and in whatever ways that you can.
Coming from a running background, I approached a college swim coach long ago, just wanting to learn and work hard, but he was very condescending to me, only looking for national champions. He finally let me come out for an early morning practice, first thing had me kicking 50m lengths with his stars, and I couldn't kick. It was a bad experience that put me off swimming for most of my life until recently, and now I'm enjoying it quite a bit on my own, thanks primarily to the internet and a very nice local pool.
A community college team will hopefully be more inviting.
From my experience, college coaches in general are very narrow minded, and unless you're a star already, won't entertain even talking to you. Hopefully you'll find an exception, but even if not, the most important thing you can do is be self motivated, consider swimming as a life time activity, do all you can to enjoy it on your own, and in whatever ways that you can.
Coming from a running background, I approached a college swim coach long ago, just wanting to learn and work hard, but he was very condescending to me, only looking for national champions. He finally let me come out for an early morning practice, first thing had me kicking 50m lengths with his stars, and I couldn't kick. It was a bad experience that put me off swimming for most of my life until recently, and now I'm enjoying it quite a bit on my own, thanks primarily to the internet and a very nice local pool.
A community college team will hopefully be more inviting.
