What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?

Both of my parents were what now is called jocks. My father was tall & thin, my mother short and very muscular. All of my siblings are tall and thin. However, the next generation are tall and muscular. And their children look to be the same. I do think that genetics are very important. Also, though early accessiblity is very important. One of my best friends grew up in DC. He became a very good basketball & baseball player. He truly thinks that the reason is because the DC rec department is so good and easily accessible to kids year-round. My mother was a teen ager during the Depression. He grandfahter had a tennis court on his farm. He simply ploughed up the grass and made a clay court. My grandmother, mother, and aunt were all good players. They lived in Iowa. Both my mother & aunt were very good basketball players becasue of Iowa's stree of women's basketball. Here in Galesburg, basketball rules, even though the teams for many years have been very terrible. At on time, more teams from Galesburg had gone to state than any other highschool in Illinois. This helped make basketball so important to the identity of the city. (insertion of racist remark) All us tall thin Swedes and Norks. If you didn't play basketball, you were considered weird or strange, even if you were a great wrestler or swimmer. Now, there are so many more opportunities for young people and nontypical sports are more accepted. So while our swimming teams imporve and are more open to kids whose families couldn't in the past afford lessons, more traditional midwestern sports are "suffering."

Both of my parents were what now is called jocks. My father was tall & thin, my mother short and very muscular. All of my siblings are tall and thin. However, the next generation are tall and muscular. And their children look to be the same. I do think that genetics are very important. Also, though early accessiblity is very important. One of my best friends grew up in DC. He became a very good basketball & baseball player. He truly thinks that the reason is because the DC rec department is so good and easily accessible to kids year-round. My mother was a teen ager during the Depression. He grandfahter had a tennis court on his farm. He simply ploughed up the grass and made a clay court. My grandmother, mother, and aunt were all good players. They lived in Iowa. Both my mother & aunt were very good basketball players becasue of Iowa's stree of women's basketball. Here in Galesburg, basketball rules, even though the teams for many years have been very terrible. At on time, more teams from Galesburg had gone to state than any other highschool in Illinois. This helped make basketball so important to the identity of the city. (insertion of racist remark) All us tall thin Swedes and Norks. If you didn't play basketball, you were considered weird or strange, even if you were a great wrestler or swimmer. Now, there are so many more opportunities for young people and nontypical sports are more accepted. So while our swimming teams imporve and are more open to kids whose families couldn't in the past afford lessons, more traditional midwestern sports are "suffering."