Do we have to swim in a lot of meets to go fast? Of people that compete, it seems like there is a wide variance among forum members on meet attendance. Some go to many meets and some go to only a few a year. It seems like some people only attend the big meets or nationals. It obviously helps to get experience at meets, but how many do you need to compete in ideally to (1) swim fast and improve, and/or (2) do well at major competitions such as zones or nationals?
Parents
Former Member
It obviously helps to get experience at meets, but how many do you need to compete in ideally to (1) swim fast and improve, and/or (2) do well at major competitions such as zones or nationals?
(1) None. You can swim fast and improve without ever being in a meet. In fact, the fastest times I have ever done for any stroke have been in practice - not in competition.
(2) Lots! To do well at competitions, you need both (a) to be able to swim fast and (b) to be able to swim at top of form when you are at meets. The only place you can develop the second ability is at meets.
The good news for many swimmers is that the process of learning to compete is, in some degree, cumulative. So if you competed a lot when you were younger, much of what you learned is still with you even if you haven't competed recently.
The bad news for swimmers who are new to competing is that there is really no substitute for being in lots of meets. Breaststroke champion David Denniston once said that there were guys he'd known in college who could turn in great times in practice that they could never duplicate in competition, and that almost invariably they were guys who had never been on a high school swim team. The ideal for people who haven't competed much is to be in one or two meets per week, so that the experience of being in a meet becomes commonplace, so that there is plenty of opportunity to experiment with different events, so that they learn how to make the best of things on days when they aren't at top of form, and so that messing up or getting DQed isn't that big a deal since they'll have another chance to swim the event in a week or so. But, of course, in masters swimming there's what's ideal, and then there's what's possible! :dedhorse:
It obviously helps to get experience at meets, but how many do you need to compete in ideally to (1) swim fast and improve, and/or (2) do well at major competitions such as zones or nationals?
(1) None. You can swim fast and improve without ever being in a meet. In fact, the fastest times I have ever done for any stroke have been in practice - not in competition.
(2) Lots! To do well at competitions, you need both (a) to be able to swim fast and (b) to be able to swim at top of form when you are at meets. The only place you can develop the second ability is at meets.
The good news for many swimmers is that the process of learning to compete is, in some degree, cumulative. So if you competed a lot when you were younger, much of what you learned is still with you even if you haven't competed recently.
The bad news for swimmers who are new to competing is that there is really no substitute for being in lots of meets. Breaststroke champion David Denniston once said that there were guys he'd known in college who could turn in great times in practice that they could never duplicate in competition, and that almost invariably they were guys who had never been on a high school swim team. The ideal for people who haven't competed much is to be in one or two meets per week, so that the experience of being in a meet becomes commonplace, so that there is plenty of opportunity to experiment with different events, so that they learn how to make the best of things on days when they aren't at top of form, and so that messing up or getting DQed isn't that big a deal since they'll have another chance to swim the event in a week or so. But, of course, in masters swimming there's what's ideal, and then there's what's possible! :dedhorse:
