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
We even had rope finishes in summer league in the late 80s. In fact, I think they just stopped within the past year or so when they remodeled the pool. It was a 33 1/3 meter pool. If you were swimming a 25, you swam to the red flags. If you were swimming a 50, you swam down and back to the yellow flags. In both cases, the timers would lean over and try to judge it. Relays were generally 4 lengths (133 1/3 meters).
In AAU/USS before computers were used much, we had little pink (blue for the boys) index cards with our times on them that they used for seeding us. They would line you up in this huge line by heat and we always tried to hide our pink cards from the people near us so they wouldn't see our time. :laugh2:
I also have some interesting memories of swimming in the old Starlit Aquatic Club in Fairfax, VA. It was one of the only long-course pools in the area at the time. The roof dripped horribly and there were rats in the locker room. :eek:
Wow. That just brought back memories. I just recently returned to the pool (after a 20-some odd year absence). I was looking up masters programs in Norfolk when I came across this post about Starlit. I swam there under Holger Dietz and others from about 80 until they closed it down. Yep, a ton of fond (sic) memories of that nasty old pool. They heated the water from the shower water heaters...yep, took cold showers alot. I was glad the lawsuit shut that place down. After Startlit I went over to Solotar for a couple of years.
One of those 33 1/3 pools was the Greater Annandale Recreation Center (GARC) I swam, coached, and lifeguarded there for about 8 years. For relays, we'd switch the lane lines to the other direction (25yds) but there were only 4 lanes. Wow knockin the cobwebs off those memories.
We even had rope finishes in summer league in the late 80s. In fact, I think they just stopped within the past year or so when they remodeled the pool. It was a 33 1/3 meter pool. If you were swimming a 25, you swam to the red flags. If you were swimming a 50, you swam down and back to the yellow flags. In both cases, the timers would lean over and try to judge it. Relays were generally 4 lengths (133 1/3 meters).
In AAU/USS before computers were used much, we had little pink (blue for the boys) index cards with our times on them that they used for seeding us. They would line you up in this huge line by heat and we always tried to hide our pink cards from the people near us so they wouldn't see our time. :laugh2:
I also have some interesting memories of swimming in the old Starlit Aquatic Club in Fairfax, VA. It was one of the only long-course pools in the area at the time. The roof dripped horribly and there were rats in the locker room. :eek:
Wow. That just brought back memories. I just recently returned to the pool (after a 20-some odd year absence). I was looking up masters programs in Norfolk when I came across this post about Starlit. I swam there under Holger Dietz and others from about 80 until they closed it down. Yep, a ton of fond (sic) memories of that nasty old pool. They heated the water from the shower water heaters...yep, took cold showers alot. I was glad the lawsuit shut that place down. After Startlit I went over to Solotar for a couple of years.
One of those 33 1/3 pools was the Greater Annandale Recreation Center (GARC) I swam, coached, and lifeguarded there for about 8 years. For relays, we'd switch the lane lines to the other direction (25yds) but there were only 4 lanes. Wow knockin the cobwebs off those memories.
