Help New Swimmer

Originally posted by Swimmerguy After telling them that on the 3 a day winter break days we would do about 10,000 yards 10,000 in three workouts? That doesn't seem like much to me. Maybe you guys were girlie! ;)

sv20lacrosse, Being only 14 you might not have heard of a swimmer by the name of Matt Biondi. I believe, as I have been told, that Matt did not start swimming until he was a freshman in HS. (If this is incorrect, please, someone let me know) Matt went on to NCAA, Olympic and World Record glory. And also wasn't a shabby water polo player either. Swimming might not be consistently a big spectator sport, or have as much public glory in it as you might have in other sports, but, the personal gratification that you will get from improving your technique, knowledge and eventually times will be enough, IMO, to test even the most driven athlete. IT WILL NOT BE EASY. It takes hard work and dedication. YOU WILL GET BETTER. Case in point, I had a freshmen 4 years ago who could not make it acrossed the pool on the first day of workout. As a coach you always wonder how long it will take for an individual such as this to choose another career path. We encouraged him to stick it out and this kid worked hard, was voted by his teammates the hardest worker on the team 4 years in a row and went a 22.85 in the 50 and 49.9 in the 100 his senior year. He now swims for a Div III school here in Ohio. Swimmers do not have it easy. It takes a special kid to come out for swimming. Swimmers are the best people you will meet. In the future, you will have a common bond with a lot of people, worldwide. For the people who call us different things, well, they just do not know. Leave them alone and go about your business of getting better and having fun doing it. If two roads diverged in the woods, take the one less travelled by and it will make all of the difference. There is a whole other world under the surface. Come on in, the water's fine.

To add on to what others have said: I remember one time in HS where a bored wrestler tried to tease us about wearing Speedos. I reminded him that he wore a women's swimsuit and groped other sweaty boys. :D Find a tape of a good water polo match, and ask how girlie that is. (For that matter, how girlie were those women's Olympic matches? Yikes! :eek: ) Lastly, three words: Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller (Added later...) Both New York and Illinois have fall girl's season, and winter boy's season.

I know here in MN the girls swim in the fall and the boys swim in the winter. It puts a damper on the USS swim season for some of the boys!!

Originally posted by thisgirl13 I was a high school swimmer, in a tiny Southern Ohio town ruled by a religion we call high school football. There were a record-breaking 7 people on my team my sophomore year, and we were teased endlessly by the other jocks in the school....until we invited them to a practice. When I was in high school, football was definitely the "big" sport. In fact, every game was a major school event, complete with cheerleaders, the band playing at half time, refreshment stands, etc. They didn't even have a swim team when I was there (though from what I hear that has changed). But here are the sad facts: Most of the guys who played high school football weren't good enough to play it in college. None of them, to my knowledge, were good enough to turn pro. And those guys who aren't good enough to turn pro soon discover a hard reality: If you don't turn pro, about the only options for football as an adult are watching and coaching, neither of which will keep you in shape. An unfortunate number of high school football players, when they become adults, end up sitting in front of their TV sets watching the superbowl while they grow beer bellies and reminisce about the glory days when they were 17.

I agree with what everyone has said. When I was told to chose between swimming and gymnastics (for some reason my mom didn't like the idea of me being in the pool at 5am then again after school then going from swimming to a five gymnastics workout) I chose gymnastics to spite my parents because they hated gymnastics - fear of neck breaking injury and all. I am all for doing what you want and what makes you happy. You can't live your life for someone else. Swimming is a tough sport. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't ever tried it. I have a co-worker that played all the "guy" sports and he has told me on several occassions (before he knew I was a swimmer even) that he thinks swimming is the hardest sport out there and is for masochistic people. And honestly I have never heard anyone call swimming girlie. Do they know who Michael Phelps is? Tell them to swim a 200 fly and see if they still think it's girlie.