I remember P Mulins the author maybe I missed spelled his name talking about swimming being a white upper-middle class sport and the country club set. I guess he had not met Shirley Bashashoff that came from a blue collar background. Anyway, swimmers in elite circles tend to be more from upper-middle families than the non-elite. In high school programs, their are plenty of them from the barrio and the ghetto. Also, he seems to think swimming is divided between whites and blacks. In his state, both Latinos and Asians outnumber blacks. And Latinos are the group lowest on the income level in that state and Arizona mainly done to immirgation. I think the swimming world is seeing that in the states, its not a black and white world anymore,even in the south asians and latins have increase.
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Craig, you make an excellent point. Let’s face it, swimmers are a seriously different bunch. It takes a completely different mind set to grind out lap after lap after lap…alone, by yourself, with no interaction with anyone until you reach the end of a set. I remember a kid when I first started to swim back in 1958 or 1959 telling me he did not like the silence. He said it was boring to swim lap after lap and never have the opportunity to talk to anyone. Soon after he made that statement, his swim team experience came to an end. The solitary nature of our sport is not for everyone.
Swimmers are different….Am not, are so, am not, are so……
Craig, you make an excellent point. Let’s face it, swimmers are a seriously different bunch. It takes a completely different mind set to grind out lap after lap after lap…alone, by yourself, with no interaction with anyone until you reach the end of a set. I remember a kid when I first started to swim back in 1958 or 1959 telling me he did not like the silence. He said it was boring to swim lap after lap and never have the opportunity to talk to anyone. Soon after he made that statement, his swim team experience came to an end. The solitary nature of our sport is not for everyone.
Swimmers are different….Am not, are so, am not, are so……