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
No goggles and looking at the world through a white haze.
getting sun burned because there was no such thing as sunblock.
putting your hand in an imaginary tin can on center line when learning 'australian crawl'
black lane lines extending from the bottom of the pool, up side of the pool and onto the wooden starting blocks.
if you weren't careful you could catch your foot in the space between the slats of the starting blocks and the bulkhead.
1,000 or so 'bobs' were considered a warm down. I might be stretching the truth about the number, but bobs were the warm down of choice.
Running on the beach as a warm up, or as a 'punishment' when we ticked the coach off.
Fly wasn't taught to kids.
girls didn't owned a race suits because we were there to have fun.
The girls and boys practiced at different times. The girls practiced for an hour two days a week with an assistant coach. The boys practiced every day, no set time just until the head coach let them go.
Lainey
No goggles and looking at the world through a white haze.
getting sun burned because there was no such thing as sunblock.
putting your hand in an imaginary tin can on center line when learning 'australian crawl'
black lane lines extending from the bottom of the pool, up side of the pool and onto the wooden starting blocks.
if you weren't careful you could catch your foot in the space between the slats of the starting blocks and the bulkhead.
1,000 or so 'bobs' were considered a warm down. I might be stretching the truth about the number, but bobs were the warm down of choice.
Running on the beach as a warm up, or as a 'punishment' when we ticked the coach off.
Fly wasn't taught to kids.
girls didn't owned a race suits because we were there to have fun.
The girls and boys practiced at different times. The girls practiced for an hour two days a week with an assistant coach. The boys practiced every day, no set time just until the head coach let them go.
Lainey
