My heart to swim competitively burned out when I was seventeen - though I swam another year (my senior year in high school). Then 33 years later I got back in the pool, and like many others, discovered that I had a renewed passion to compete. That seems in some ways strange to me, so I've been thinking about why I compete. I've reached the conclusion that I really wasn't done when I left the pool at eighteen - rather, I just needed a breather. (That was one huge oxygen debt!) I wonder if one day I'll be done competing, or if this passion is a lifelong one, like the passion for fitness and health that my swimming serves regardless of whether or not I compete.
Parents
Former Member
I have been involved in competitive swimming for 32 years. 16 as a competitor and 16 as a coach. I quit competing after college because I had run the gamit; from 8 and under to senior in college. I used my time for other things like working, coaching, creating a family. We recently had a Y constructed 200 yards from my backdoor. I do not like to run and needed something to prolong the inevitable. Swimming is it. I have yet to compete in a masters event, don't even belong to a club as of yet. But I do know this: I used to train to compete. I now will compete because I train. Think about it, there is a big difference.
I have been involved in competitive swimming for 32 years. 16 as a competitor and 16 as a coach. I quit competing after college because I had run the gamit; from 8 and under to senior in college. I used my time for other things like working, coaching, creating a family. We recently had a Y constructed 200 yards from my backdoor. I do not like to run and needed something to prolong the inevitable. Swimming is it. I have yet to compete in a masters event, don't even belong to a club as of yet. But I do know this: I used to train to compete. I now will compete because I train. Think about it, there is a big difference.
