Some people are afraid of the dark...some are afraid to go outside....
I'm afraid of the starting blocks!
Yes, sad and pathetic but true - the blocks scare the beejeezus outa me. Why, I don't know. When I swam in high school I had no fear (and no cap and goggles either - we're talkin' WAY back in the day...)
Well...flash forward several years to my now Masters career and my coach talks me in to competing. So we have a start clinic. From then on (and it's gotten worse) I developed a really strange phobia of actually getting on the blocks and jumping off.
Part of it has to do with the fact that my starts are terrible. I have practiced and I cannot seem to get my brain to wrap around the information of what I'm suppose to do, and to get my body to follow.
Lately it just so happens that I've been competing in really long races (i.e., 1650, 1000, etc.) and I start from the wall. But when I compete in the shorter distances I know I cannot get away with that. And, I'd really like to get over the irrational fear of diving into the water...AND I'd really like to have a decent, competitive start.
Suggestions? Thoughts? Therapy of any kind...?
PS: we do have a diving pool where we work out, so I have no excuse!
:(
Parents
Former Member
Fishgrrl,
I too was once in your shoes, I too had a fear of the blocks and as an added bonus, the low dive. Reason: When I was eight, I had swim lessons in the summer and our swim instructor forced us to jump off the high dive, which scared the pants off of me.
Later, when I was in high school, taking a phys ed Swim class, we had to jump off the low dive (since that's what we had in the pool) as an added assessment in the class.
Although it wasn't easy getting off the board, I faced my fears one day when I jumped off the low dive. It didn't take me as long as the lady that Laneybug meantioned in her story, but I faced my fear with a little encouragement and a reassurance that nothing bad was going to happen to me.
A year later, when I was a member of the swim team, we had the privilege of working on starts with the small, white starting blocks. Boy were they small! I felt like I was going to fall and kill myself, but again, I faced my fear.
Now I LOOK FORWARD to getting on that starting block!
It's like what I say in my song "Swimmer's Ballad": (See The Meaning of Swimming thread****)
"...Getting on that starting block is a feeling that is never the same..."
So, hang in there, you're not alone. With a little courage and perseverence, you'll be starting off that block in a meet in the not-so-distant future, I know it!
Sonic
Fishgrrl,
I too was once in your shoes, I too had a fear of the blocks and as an added bonus, the low dive. Reason: When I was eight, I had swim lessons in the summer and our swim instructor forced us to jump off the high dive, which scared the pants off of me.
Later, when I was in high school, taking a phys ed Swim class, we had to jump off the low dive (since that's what we had in the pool) as an added assessment in the class.
Although it wasn't easy getting off the board, I faced my fears one day when I jumped off the low dive. It didn't take me as long as the lady that Laneybug meantioned in her story, but I faced my fear with a little encouragement and a reassurance that nothing bad was going to happen to me.
A year later, when I was a member of the swim team, we had the privilege of working on starts with the small, white starting blocks. Boy were they small! I felt like I was going to fall and kill myself, but again, I faced my fear.
Now I LOOK FORWARD to getting on that starting block!
It's like what I say in my song "Swimmer's Ballad": (See The Meaning of Swimming thread****)
"...Getting on that starting block is a feeling that is never the same..."
So, hang in there, you're not alone. With a little courage and perseverence, you'll be starting off that block in a meet in the not-so-distant future, I know it!
Sonic
