George asked whether age group swimmers are being bullied/pressured into swimming by parents, coaches and friends. Are they? Are parents living out their "unfulfilled dreams" through their young ones, as Geek suggested in another thread? Share your funniest/saddest story about overbearing swim parents or coaches.
Guess I am lucky with the age group swimmers, they are all very supportive and like to race the ole guy. The coach always says keep up with the ole guy in practice or dont let the ole guy beat ya. I think we feed off each other, and make ourselves faster and push things more in practice. I always get sad at end of year when the Seniors graduate and move on to college. So I am always scoping out the lower age group to see who is going to push me. Cool thing is, Im accepted as a team mate and swim on their relays. Last year when the Seniors graduated they invited the ole guy to their graduation party.
I have not really heard any negative feedback from parents from our team but from other teams I have heard thru the grapevine some parents get bent out of shape of a master swimmer swimming uss meets. Usually this is in a prelim/final meet and little johnny was knocked out of finals because a master swimmer made it to finals. My feeling is, work harder and stop your whining. Although, I have told my coach, if his swimmer was first alternate and I was in the finals, I would scratch so his swimmer could swim at night. I will not do it for any other teams though. Its just the respect I have for my team and wanting them to experience swimming in finals.
Guess I am lucky with the age group swimmers, they are all very supportive and like to race the ole guy. The coach always says keep up with the ole guy in practice or dont let the ole guy beat ya. I think we feed off each other, and make ourselves faster and push things more in practice. I always get sad at end of year when the Seniors graduate and move on to college. So I am always scoping out the lower age group to see who is going to push me. Cool thing is, Im accepted as a team mate and swim on their relays. Last year when the Seniors graduated they invited the ole guy to their graduation party.
I have not really heard any negative feedback from parents from our team but from other teams I have heard thru the grapevine some parents get bent out of shape of a master swimmer swimming uss meets. Usually this is in a prelim/final meet and little johnny was knocked out of finals because a master swimmer made it to finals. My feeling is, work harder and stop your whining. Although, I have told my coach, if his swimmer was first alternate and I was in the finals, I would scratch so his swimmer could swim at night. I will not do it for any other teams though. Its just the respect I have for my team and wanting them to experience swimming in finals.
