Well I know this might not be even the right site to post this, but I need some opinions. I am 16, soon to be 17 in Sept. I have never swam competetively in my life (unless you consider racing in my backyard with my mom). Last February, I dated a member of our school's swim team. I don't know how to put this. Basically, his presence made me motivated to do swimming. He basically made me remember when in 3rd grade I wanted to join the neighborhood team, but couldn't. And how I was going to join in 9th grade, but my mother discouraged me. Let me make this clear, I DONT WANT TO DO IT BECAUSE OF HIM. But now to my problem...I want to swim, but I can't until college. I mean, I don't want to join the team if he's there. Too many people would think I joined it to be near him. He swims at school, and at our local club, so both are out right now. Ok, so when I get to college, I'll be 17 for a month, and turn 18 freshman year. However, I noticed that Masters is for 19 and over. So my question finally, what should I do? Should I join an 18-under club freshman year of college or just wait ANOTHER year for Masters? Or something I haven't thought of?
I forgot to mention, I have no idea if I'm doing my strokes right. I've taught myself them this summer. I have no times at all. Endurance is bad right now. I think the pool I was in today (not our usual backyard one) was 25 y. and I was out of breath after 4 laps. :(
Former Member
Well, you might start with a team. You can still swim age group until age 19 years old. The problem is that you will be unable to swim in college unless its a division 3 program or community college that allows people without a background in swimming to join. Join masters maybe before your 19th birthday. I think you can swim in some master meets at 18 if your birthday falls on a certain date. Good luck. At your age its much easier to pick up from going from 4 laps to workouts over 3,000 than people in their 40's'. Also, if you have a year or two left of high school, you might go out for the high school team.
You don't want to join the team because ppl will think you joined to be near your boyfriend???
Who cares! If somebody gives u crap tell them to f*** off it's none of anybody's business where you swim. Don't worry about stepping on other ppls' toes, it's your life not theirs! Who gives a s*** what anybody says just follow your dreams and show anybody who doubts you what you're made of. Get a couple years of swimming in before college and there's no telling how fast you could become. Just go for it and join the club team, you're NOT going to regret it later!
The minimum age for masters was recently lowered to 18 (mostly to accomodate cases like yours), so you should be able to join Masters team in your freshman year. As of now, you won't be able to compete until you are 19 but that rule may change soon also. (Anyway, the one year delay might be good to help you feel more comfortable.) There are many Masters teams located on or near colleges.
Masters sounds like good bet for you, since you don't have a competitive swimming background. Many people start in Masters with very little swimming background and the coaching helps to develop the skills. (College teams usually are only interested in swimmers with strong high school backgrounds.) In the meantime, you might consider taking classes, say, at a local Y, to help improve your technique and your confidence.
Depending on your location, you may want to try an open water swim race. They usually allow teenagers to compete. Of course, you will need to get to the point where you can go more than 4 laps, but in time it will come if you work at it. Also, some of them have things like 1/4 mile novice swims and the like.
I agree that you really shouldn't care what other people think vis-a-vis particpating on your swim team. If anyone says anything about you and the boy(friend), just give them a big smile, your sauciest wink and say nothing. It will drive them crazy.
