Back in the day: a social history of swimming

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:06:23 GMT

Watching kid sucking on the honey bottle used to gross me out. I hadn't thought of those trolls in ages. Playing cards was a huge passtime. Hearts, spit, strip poker (it never ended the way I would have liked), and some card game (forgot the name)where the loser had to do what the others decided. Explaining to my parents why I was leaping around, using my towel as a cape while singing, "Here I come to save the day", was difficult. I have very fond memories of those big meets.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

TRYM_Swimmer — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:24:54 GMT

Who else remembers the raw-jello eating thing? During the '70s when I was an age-group swimmer, it seems like eating powdered jello mix straight from the box was the thing to do at swim meets. I thought it was totally yucky and didn't do it myself, but I was seemingly in a small minority. In the early 60's we didn't even do flavors. We would hoard sugar packets from restaurants and just down those during meets! When I started Masters in 72 - 73, OJ and Hershey Bars were popular on the East Coast. In fact, that's what my wife remembers most about the day we met at a meet: this strange guy eating Hershey Bars and guzzling OJ out of a canteen.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:28:45 GMT

I swam in high school in the fall of 1988 (and part of the season my first year of college). It's not so much the things I remember, but the things that have surprised me now that I've started swimming again. 1) Goggles that don't leak. Yay! I can wear my contacts. 2) Polyester suits. I bought an ugly Speedo Endurance suit off a clearance rack last summer. I had not bought a swimming suit in 20 years, had not heard of Endurance, and had no clue what I was getting. And the suit will. not. die! 3) Backstroke flip turns. I am absolutely fascinated by these! I swear we had to stay on our back and spin in place, but a co-worker only a few years younger than I am says he was doing backstroke flip turns in high school. When did they come about? I must know. 4) They moved the starting blocks. My 10-year-old daughter had a meet at my old h.s. The blocks are now at the same end as the diving boards. I swear they used to be at the 3.5" end by the locker rooms.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:31:57 GMT

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:30:25 GMT

Tang and glucose powder, Calcium Casinate, Caffeine powder, Benzedrien, Dexadrien, Dexamile, all the good stuff that lots of swimmers used. We suspected some of the fast swimmers of using the last three.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:28:52 GMT

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Elaine Krugman — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:47:20 GMT

2) Polyester suits. I bought an ugly Speedo Endurance suit off a clearance rack last summer. I had not bought a swimming suit in 20 years, had not heard of Endurance, and had no clue what I was getting. And the suit will. not. die! :applaud: to Speedo Endurance suits! I, too, bought an ugly one on clearance, because it was only $28. Mine lasted from June 2009 until October 2010, swimming on average 5x wk, 1:15 per session. It finally died while I was in an overly chlorinated cruise ship pool and the stitching came undone. (Little did I know, I was mooning the other passengers when I got out of the pool and bent over to pick up my stuff off the ground... :blush: ). When I got back to my cabin, I noticed the stitching coming undone EVERYWHERE. But, the fabric never faded and never wore out; only the stitching. And, I'm convinced it's because of the huge amount of chlorine that was in that pool! It was the final blow to my suit... I have another one now and I love it just the same! :agree:

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

jim thornton — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:35:13 GMT

I was born in 1930, and swimming and diving gave me some of my happiest times....It was an extraordinary experience to have these human contacts across the boundary between nations separated by cold war. Frank M. Frank, this is superb--extremely well-written and overall just a fascinating look at history through the eyes of a swimmer/diver! USMS has a section devoted to archiving the stories of masters swimmers. Carl House, I think, used to be in charge of this, but I am not sure if he's still doing it, or if not, who else is in charge now. Perhaps Chris S. or another forumite with ties to the USMS staff could tell us. In any event, I really hope someone who knows about these things can archive your story. Here's a link to the area where these stories are now being collected: http://www.usms.org/hist/sto/ PS Good luck at cracking that 1:17 100 backstroke in the 80-84 age group!

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Chris Stevenson — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:21:14 GMT

3) Backstroke flip turns. I am absolutely fascinated by these! I swear we had to stay on our back and spin in place, but a co-worker only a few years younger than I am says he was doing backstroke flip turns in high school. When did they come about? I must know. I like them too, I hated the old-style turns. I graduated from college in 1986 and we were still doing the old backstroke flip-turns. I think the modern flip- turns started 1-2 years after that.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Karl_S — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:07:45 GMT

I swam in high school in the fall of 1988 (and part of the season my first year of college). It's not so much the things I remember, but the things that have surprised me now that I've started swimming again. ... 4) They moved the starting blocks. My 10-year-old daughter had a meet at my old h.s. The blocks are now at the same end as the diving boards. I swear they used to be at the 3.5" end by the locker rooms. This one was a big surprise to me as well.... and what a great idea! We used to start in some ridiculously shallow pools. I remember one in Sterling, IL that was so shallow it was seemingly impossibly to avoid knocking ones knees on the bottom. Now I wonder why they didn't always put the starting blocks in the deep end in the first place!

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Bobinator — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:40:13 GMT

Who else remembers the raw-jello eating thing? During the '70s when I was an age-group swimmer, it seems like eating powdered jello mix straight from the box was the thing to do at swim meets. I thought it was totally yucky and didn't do it myself, but I was seemingly in a small minority. I loved the jello eating; it turned your fingers beautiful colors. We would eat a different color with each finger and have rainbow hands! I also had 2 trolls, a giant sized one and a small regular sized one. We would put them behind our blocks while we raced.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

jim thornton — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:15:23 GMT

2) Polyester suits. I bought an ugly Speedo Endurance suit off a clearance rack last summer. I had not bought a swimming suit in 20 years, had not heard of Endurance, and had no clue what I was getting. And the suit will. not. die! You might want to try Tyr Durafast suits. They are polyester but don't have the scratchiness quality of some of the other polyester products. They last forever--the stitching in the seams wears out long before the fabric. And they don't have the tendency that Lycra has to become form-fitting and shrink-wrapping, which is either obscene or delightful, depending on the form-fitted and shrink-wrapped. Ask your teammates which category you fall into. Who else remembers the raw-jello eating thing? During the '70s when I was an age-group swimmer, it seems like eating powdered jello mix straight from the box was the thing to do at swim meets. I thought it was totally yucky and didn't do it myself, but I was seemingly in a small minority. I think the idea was to pack your muscles with sugar right before a race. I am pretty sure the thinking now is that flooding yourself with raw sugar, albeit sugar with artificial dye to give it fruit-like colors, just causes a quick spike in insulin followed by a plummet in blood sugar--precisely the opposite of the intended effect. Instead of working as a legal PED, or performance enhancing drug, I think raw Jell-O was actually a PID, or perfomance inhibiting drug. Imagine how fast Mark Spitz might have been! I meant to also quote Chris here in his comment about Tang. It's funny because I buy Tang today on a semi-regular basis. According to the dishwasher repairman, the citric acid in it makes it a perfect product to clean out the accumulate scale and other crud in the dishwasher. Perhaps it served a similar role in the digestive tract of elite swimmers and astronauts alike? Tang: former food, current household solvent

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:26:09 GMT

Small thing that I just remembered from the Sixties: at meets, including stateside, there was one year when all the girls would spend down times between events in groups where they were all grooming these 'troll' dolls that were about 4-5 inches tall with long manes of straight hair. These included girls of an age who wouldn't be caught dead with dolls in public at other times.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:07:50 GMT

I swam in high school in the fall of 1988 (and part of the season my first year of college). 2) Polyester suits. I bought an ugly Speedo Endurance suit off a clearance rack last summer. I had not bought a swimming suit in 20 years, had not heard of Endurance, and had no clue what I was getting. And the suit will. not. die! :lolup: Sorry, just had to! If you sit on the bottom of a shallow pool, the concrete will catch the fabric and make it all bobbly...... if you're looking for a reason to replace the suit. You may prefer an XtraLife lycra one next time - they don't last nearly as long as the endurance ones (particularly if you use the hot tub) butare much nicer. I have now gone back to Speedo Endurance, although I'm not 100% convinced on the grab bag one I got last month :blush:

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:59:05 GMT

In high school swimming, 1990-1991 was the first season that backstroke flip turns were allowed. In NCAA swimming, it was 1991-1992. I remember being about 15 when I decided that I was not a backstroker and I never got the opportunity to do a 200+ IM back then, so there was no point in my even trying these new-fangled turns. That would put them around 1989. FTR I have now conceded, but don't practice them enough to do them well.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Chris Stevenson — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:12:17 GMT

Had they even invented any color/flavor other than Orange Tang? If you think about our parents and coaches pushing Jello and Tang on us, they were, in effect, looking for a performance enhancing drug ... on 10 & unders! Orange is the only one I remember, so maybe you are right. I remember "space bars" too. Because, y'know, that's what the astronauts ate. Just looked them up in Wikipedia, where it is claimed that they were a fave of Ian Thorpe. Performance enhancing!!

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Patrick W. Brundage — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:06:27 GMT

We ate Tang powder straight from the jar, too...orange was my fave...Had they even invented any color/flavor other than Orange Tang? If you think about our parents and coaches pushing Jello and Tang on us, they were, in effect, looking for a performance enhancing drug ... on 10 & unders!

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Chris Stevenson — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:01:51 GMT

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Karl_S — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:59:58 GMT

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

orca1946 — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:03:40 GMT

In the 60's , I tried swim contacts that were the size if nickels. They would fit under the eyelids to stay in. Great vision before goggles but when worn in long races they formed chlorine gas under the lens & hurt like hell !!

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

That Guy — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:56:07 GMT

I like them too, I hated the old-style turns. I graduated from college in 1986 and we were still doing the old backstroke flip-turns. I think the modern flip- turns started 1-2 years after that. In high school swimming, 1990-1991 was the first season that backstroke flip turns were allowed. In NCAA swimming, it was 1991-1992.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Chris Stevenson — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:42:34 GMT

Frank, this is superb--extremely well-written and overall just a fascinating look at history through the eyes of a swimmer/diver! USMS has a section devoted to archiving the stories of masters swimmers. Carl House, I think, used to be in charge of this, but I am not sure if he's still doing it, or if not, who else is in charge now. Perhaps Chris S. or another forumite with ties to the USMS staff could tell us. I agree, an interesting story. The lovely and talented Meegan Wilson is the chair of History and Archives. I sent her an email pointing to Frank's post.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:33:00 GMT

Does my heart good to read some new contributions to this thread; we have just transitioned through interesting times in the social history of swimming i.e. tech suit era that someone in the future would find (perhaps) fascinating from first-person anecdotes. Obviously we have provided plenty of cyber-material already to provide insight upon this era- but previous times? We have to capture the memories of those who lived through them. Whether age-group, summer, collegiate, marathon, international etc., there are a myriad of details out there that change from decade to decade. This is one place to share those memories.

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:09:02 GMT

Just read through this - interesting stuff! The last masters meet I swam was in 2008 in my then home pool, with lane-ropes that need ratcheting tight and pink/blue cards for seeding the heats. Guess the UK has some catching up to do. :) But they did have electronic timing - when they could get all 6 pads to work!

RE: Back in the day: a social history of swimming

Former Member — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:01:50 GMT

I love these stories!!! I am from the days with no googles, caps, and the suits were nylon V back type with a modesty panel in the front made by Jantzen. My favorite Jantzen was a vertical 1" striped. I remember having a yellow one and a blue and white striped one. These suits NEVER wore out!!!! :angel: !954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver we wore red colored Jantzens