is it too late to compete?

Originally posted by hooked-on-swimming I was wondering ig I am too late for competitive swimming.I am 24 years old, 6'1'', 162 lb., very lean and muscular. USMS divides its competitions into 5 year age groups, and keeps track of record times for each sex and event in each age group. The vast, vast majority of record times are held by swimmers in the 25-29 and 30-34 age groups. So you are far from being over the hill!

Originally posted by Swimmerguy I am 29, will be 30 in March. Swam the 50 in 22.2 in HS. I am 6ft and all of my weight resides in my beerbelly which I am slowly getting rid of. SO BEWARE OF THE FAT GUY ON THE BLOCKS, HE MAY BE FASTER THAN YOU THINK. LOL With that time you could compete at any level, did you ever think about Olympics back then?

Unfortunately by the time I reached H.S. I was pretty burned out and only swam for H.S. instead of year round. I am just trying to get back in shape and love to compete. I will swim in as many meets as I can including Nationals but that is as far as it will go. Gary Hall Jr. swam in the national meet here in Indianapolis last year. Would have liked to have seen that!!!!

Originally posted by Swimmerguy Unfortunately by the time I reached H.S. I was pretty burned out and only swam for H.S. instead of year round. I am just trying to get back in shape and love to compete. I will swim in as many meets as I can including Nationals but that is as far as it will go. Gary Hall Jr. swam in the national meet here in Indianapolis last year. Would have liked to have seen that!!!! Just think how many great swimmers there would be if the coaches of young swimmers did not burn them out. I had a swimmer that I taught at my swimming school who beat every one in two age groups above him. The local swim club took this 6 year old and started working him like he was an 11 year old. He lasted one year and that was it. Many of the coaches burn them out and break them down a way too early. George www.swimdownhill.com

I am trying to be very carefull with my daughter who is 6. She is a great swimmer but started bulking about swimming this past summer. For the winter we are keeping her with the beginner swimmers on the team and I am only taking her to one practice a week. So far it seems to be working. Instead of complaining about going to practice she seems to actually want to go. I think that we need to be careful on how much we push a child even if they are really good. It is hard sometimes to hold back when you know there is so much talent. Although I would like to see her do a great job, I also want her to enjoy swimming all her life.

Competing at any age has to be the swimmers idea. At age six life should be all about fun, she has plenty of time to get serious! I have to say the most fun I have had with my swimming, is masters swimming, after competing since age ten, through college, taking a break til age 35 before discovering masters. As a college swimming I swam strictly backstroke, my last year only swam 200 back. I would travel with the team for hundreds of miles and swim my one event. While I would never trade in that experience of being part of the team, I now can swim whatever I want and train for other events, including IM's which I have always loved swimming but was not as strong in a medley, especially in college when I only trained backstroke. Now I train all four strokes, compete when and where I want to and the relays are just as much fun, only sometimes you get to share them with a couple of guys!

Originally posted by *** Pitman the current and new American record-holder in the 1500. This is the young man who won the Silver at Athens! He did not start swimming until 1999...five years ago! There's an interesting article in the current SWIMMING TECHNIQUE about the training of Lars Jensen. He really started late in life for swimming so it's kind of a Cinderella story. Fascinating! His coach Bill Rose gave more insight at the recent ASCA Coaches Clinic in Indy a couple weeks ago. [/QUOTE Actually, it gets better:Larsen Jensen was a world-class competitor already in 2002... 3 years after picking up the sport.

I guess you could consider him a "late" bloomer in that he began training seriously at age 13, toward the end of the 10-14 "window" that coaches refer to for achieving optimal aerobic development (and recently mentioned in the USA Swimming website's Tip of the Week). Doesn't sound especially late to me, considering that he'd been swimming at some level prior to that. Clearly would not pass muster with Ion.

the current and new American record-holder in the 1500. This is the young man who won the Silver at Athens! He did not start swimming until 1999...five years ago! There's an interesting article in the current SWIMMING TECHNIQUE about the training of Lars Jensen. He really started late in life for swimming so it's kind of a Cinderella story. Fascinating! His coach Bill Rose gave more insight at the recent ASCA Coaches Clinic in Indy a couple weeks ago.

:27 from a push off is very impressive 50, if you ask me, considering you are only two months on. I've been at it for almost a year and a half and my best 50 was :35.4 from a dive. But then, I'm 42 and had spent several years sitting on my rear end. In one year, I cut my 100 from about 1:45 to 1:22. But I've had a devil of a time getting it lower than that. I'd be thrilled to do one that was under 1:15.