Newbie swimmer thinking of joining community college team?

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.

^ What Gary P said. It's possible that the coach is willing to take on a new swimmer if it's not a particularly hard-charging program and they are looking to be inclusive, so talk to the coach. Unlike some HS swimming teams, a JC may not have an inclusive "lane of the future." It is likely that you will be asked to be able to swim all four strokes acceptably. You might want to watch or participate in a practice to see if this is really something for you. And if you can find a team, start swimming with a masters team or summer rec team to see if you like it - the pace and requirements will be more forgiving than a college team. Some college coaches won't allow any walk-ons or very good swimmers that they haven't recruited - it messes with their team dynamic, plan and what they told the recruits.

I have seen some real Debbie Downers here. If you have the desire, talk to the coach is your first stop. If that is promising, get into a swimming program and use weights and stretching to help with conditioning. Junior Colleges and their coaches are generally very accepting of any level of ability if the person has desire. You may not make the traveling team right away, but that should inspire you to improve. Q: what so you call a relay with only 3 members? A: spectators. Even if you are not very good, you can help the team in some way. The fact that you have reached out and show interest is good enough to get you on the team, it is up to you to improve in order to excel.

Tryouts are less likely for timed sports like swimming and running, I suspect. As a former running coach, but not at the college level, I would guess you could put the entire school on the track and within 15 minutes I'd be able to sort out the team. Swimming would be logistically more difficult.

I would try a masters team 1st. They will work with you in a much better way. If you get better with them --- then give the it the ol' college try. Yes. I signed up for a 10 week masters class this winter and after just 4 weeks I saw improvements.

If I train my butt off for the forseeable future, is there an spot for me on the team? Honestly? It's possible, but improbable. I suspect you don't really understand how demanding swimming at the college level is. You say you swam one season in 8th grade. Local summer league, I suppose? Or maybe beginner-level club swimming over the winter? There's a HUGE difference in intensity between that and a Varsity-level JuCo program. Swimming is a highly technical endeavor, so your general fitness level from previous sports participation will only take you so far. Unless you're an absolute natural, it' highly unlikely you can develop both the proper technique and swim-specific fitness in 9 months to fit in on the team....especially without a lot of one-on-one coaching. Whether or not it's right, a college coach's job security generally depends largely on Win/Loss records and how well the team places at important year end meets like Conference and/or National Championships. Given the resource limitations (staff, pool time, and pool space), it would be unreasonable to expect the team to make accommodations for a relative beginner. Even in the off season, the coaches would understandably focus their attention on the swimmers who are going to help them keep their jobs. So you have to expect that they're going to be somewhat dismissive when somebody with little or no experience approaches them about joining the team. Their livelihoods depend on turning adequate swimmers into good swimmers, and good swimmers into outstanding swimmers. They get no credit for coaching somebody from beginner to adequate in just a year or two, even though that's maybe even harder to do. I would suggest you go observe an off season practice or two to see just what its all about. If you still have the desire after that, then by all means talk to the coach and tell him what you are thinking. Ask for some minimum performance benchmarks (i.e., what do you have to be able to do just to not be in the way at a practice) that you can use as training goals. Ask for suggestions on where you might go to get some training help to meet those benchmarks. Maybe there's a lower level assistant coach who is willing and able to work with you for a modest fee just to get some more experience. Maybe there's a nearby Masters team. Maybe the local club team takes college aged kids for the summer. At some point you have to let the coach in on your idea. Might as well be sooner rather than later so you can at least get some idea what the minimum expectations are. Then give it all you have. If you make it, great. If not, you always have a home in Masters. Masters swimming is the complete opposite of college swimming. In college, it's all about maximizing the team's performance. The 100 free may be your best (and favorite) event, but if the team is deep at 100 free but shallow elsewhere, you may have to forgo that event and train for something else. Masters is much more about helping swimmers achieve their individual goals. While there is generally some sort of minimum performance criteria to participate on a team, the bar is much lower and the environment is much more inclusive.

Thanks for all the responses guys! Yes I realize the practices will be thousands and thousands of yards of grueling work and two a days and it would be near impossible for me to even keep up given the time I have to prepare. Swimming is very different from any other sport I've done for sure. When I swam for my middle school even then the serious swimmers would be doing two a days with total distances I couldn't imagine. (Granted, most of the team were complete beginners who slacked off hahah). Even knowing that, I admit I'm likely underestimating how hard it'd be to bring myself to a point where I can "keep up" with the practices. I'll send the coach an email tonight and see what she says about the off-season training (if I could watch a practice and any standards I should be meeting). Then if things go poorly, I'll join a masters team (probably will do this part anyway). I already know that last year they didn't have much depth in the longer events (2-3 swimmers per event even in the larger meets with more points up for grabs) and was thinking maybe I could help out in some way with those by being willing to fill a space. Thanks again for giving me some direction everyone. :)

Have you looked at any of the times posted in past meets by the team? That might give you an idea of where you are relative to the expected performance level. But also talk to the coach, in person if possible. Call and make an appointment to sit down. That way you can better judge their attitude & expectations and it gives you a better chance to show your level of interest & enthusiasm, even if your performance might not be there yet. Several college teams use our pool here in Sarasota for winter training trips. Some are powerhouses like Louisville with studs like Kelsi Worrell. But we also see some smaller DIII schools, who work hard but are at a lower, more achievable performance level. If you have a great attitude, are willing to work hard and be a good teammate, the coach might give you a shot. It might mean spending your time in the outside lanes every day, but you also may get a chance to help fill out some 'B' relay teams at dual meets. I think your only regret in the future would be in not giving it a shot when you had the chance. Good luck, Mark

You know what I think you should do? Just join a local Master's group rather than try to walk onto the J.C. team. Here are a few reasons why... 1. You can do Masters year round and at your own pace. There's generally no "season" and you can find meets all over the country or even in your region where you can compete when you're ready (or not!). There isn't the same pressure to perform at a given time. 2. You can learn the art of swimming. And you may discover that pool swimming leads to triathlon or open water interests. 3. You gain friends that will last a lifetime and over the course of many years, not just the two (or three) years you're in J.C. 4. As someone young and growing into your career and lifetime, you will likely find some contacts that may help you get a job in the future. It's about connections. People like connections. You can learn a lot by finding out about people outside of your age group and your field of interest/work. 5. You can do as many or as few workouts as you want based on your own goals and needs, rather than the goals of the school team/coach. 6. It's just fun. I mean, you can still join the J.C. team, but it's temporary. :) Good luck in whatever you decide.