This new thread occurred to me while reading posts comparing Spitz to Phelps, as well as reflecting upon mortality considering heart attacks etc. In swimming we immortalize individuals or teams for various feats or contributions, but do little to preserve a feeling for subsequent generations of enthusiasts about what it was like to train and compete 'back in the day'. Just what day am I talking about? Exactly: there have been many 'days' or more properly 'eras' that can be narrowly characterized by differences in equipment, distances swum and trained, coaching methods or more widely by larger factors: world war, global depression, racial segregation, inequality of the sexes. All of these can contribute to very different experiences than what are common today to the younger swimmer; hence, 'what was it like'. I visualize a thread that continues to be added to as new people read it and remember their own experiences. As well, experience can vary with national origin, not just era. There have already been posts on this topic scattered in various threads, please feel free to copy or quote material from them to here.
Please remember that this is not about how fast a particular swimmer was, but about the conditions that defined competitive swimming of that day.
We also have a priceless resource out there: aging swimmers in their 80's or 90's who may be less likely to read or hear of this thread; why not ask them for some of their memories or impressions and pass them on to us, while we still can?
Parents
Former Member
as the above poster said, starting blocks that were really blocks... wooden, painted the same color as the inside of the pool. The black lane line was painted up the side of the pool and onto the block. That darn black stripe was HOT in the summer sun of the Georgia coast.
My foot slipping into a crack and almost getting caught in the homemade wooden bulkhead that seperated the swim team practice area of the pool from the public end of the pool.
goggles? what are goggles? never able to see the bottom or side of the pool because of a combination of chlorine and my poor vision.
Doing turn after turn after turn until the bottom of my feet were bleeding from pushing off on the rough surface of the wall. (actually didn't realize it until I got out of the pool and someone pointed out my 'bloody' foot prints.
A two mile jog on the beach was the coach's idea of a warm up. Something like 1,000 bobs were the coach's idea of a cool down.
Loving the beach, the water and swimming so much that when practice was over we walked out the back gate of the pool, onto the beach and made up our own 'open water races'.
as the above poster said, starting blocks that were really blocks... wooden, painted the same color as the inside of the pool. The black lane line was painted up the side of the pool and onto the block. That darn black stripe was HOT in the summer sun of the Georgia coast.
My foot slipping into a crack and almost getting caught in the homemade wooden bulkhead that seperated the swim team practice area of the pool from the public end of the pool.
goggles? what are goggles? never able to see the bottom or side of the pool because of a combination of chlorine and my poor vision.
Doing turn after turn after turn until the bottom of my feet were bleeding from pushing off on the rough surface of the wall. (actually didn't realize it until I got out of the pool and someone pointed out my 'bloody' foot prints.
A two mile jog on the beach was the coach's idea of a warm up. Something like 1,000 bobs were the coach's idea of a cool down.
Loving the beach, the water and swimming so much that when practice was over we walked out the back gate of the pool, onto the beach and made up our own 'open water races'.
