I play football in the fall, swimming in the winter, and baseball in the spring & summer. Football is no longer much fun to play. I was wondering if I shouldn't play football next year and do cross-country instead. Cross-country would be more beneficial, and would get me in better shape, and I am seriously trying to get a swimming scholorship. Should I quit football and do cross country instead?
Former Member
would cross country be beneficial for swimming? I mean i get in shape & increase stamina?
This may seem too obvious. You state you are seriously trying for a swimming scholarship. Should'nt you rely on the advice of your swimming coach as to what activities to pursue in the off season?
Again, I'll state, for college scholarship level swimmers, there is no off-season! There are too many talkented young men competing for too few scholarship spots (Thanks to football!).
Sorry I did not specifically answer your question: Running is good for swimming to a point. It should can be incorporated to the dry land activity of a swimmer. It is not a replacement for swimming!
JC Fly,
I believe it was Janet Evans who would do some running while training for the Olympics / college (I believe she use to run about 5 miles a day) of course she still swam the running was just some extra work. So I would stay with the running, plus the fact that if you are serious about swimming, the chances of injury from playing football are greater than running.
Jeff
I agree with the others: cross-country is fine for cross-training, but will not nearly be as good as time in the pool. (I did cross-country in high school, but I was never aiming for athletic scholarships.)
Washington... do the schools there have a fall water polo program?
There are two drawbacks to running. (1) Having flexible (loose) ankles helps for having a strong kick. Having "stiff" ankles helps to keep you from spraining your ankles while running on paths. (Which would be even more true for football, I would think). (2) At least at my old school, x-country was a "geeky" sport (despite how good the team was). If that is true for your school, expect some teasing in general, and even more (hopefully good-natured) from your former football teammates! :D
hmm...I will seriously have to look into that. you have a ball and you swim with it across the pool and throw it into the goal? that seems really easy. what else is there about it? I mean, it can't be that easy. and what about the depth of the pool? does one team get the deep end and the other gets the shallow? or do the switch off?
and my school doesn't have water polo, but are there recreational leagues?