This may have been covered before; I'm new here, so I apologize in advance.
I've been cycling rather than swimming for the past 10 years, and I recently got back in the pool as end-of-season cross training. Which of course got me curious about masters programs. I checked out the Masters Nationals psyche sheets and I was really surprised at the lack of depth of the competition.
So heres the question: why do so few swimmers choose to compete after college? In comparison to cycling, or running, it seems there are hardly any swimmers competing at a high level over the age of 22 or so. For example, the mens 30-34 100 m free nationals psyche sheet shows 10 people, ranging from :56 to 1:03! 10 people? Is that because most people don't pre-register? Or are there really only a handful of 30-34 men out there who can go under a minute in the 100m free??
to answer the "why don't people swim after college"
some of us do! I actually swam masters THROUGH college, and am still going
But a list of reasons why people wouldnt swim after college:
- burnout :frustrated:
- hate toward swimming fostered by intense college environment:censor:
- general despise of competition :cry:
- desire to do something else (ie drink heavily, water polo, flag football) after focusing almost exclusively on training :drink:
- grad school/ med school :coffee:
- swimmer doesn't know about masters swimming :dunno:
- occupational conflicts (ie new job; no vacation time; working long hours) :notworking:
- lack of funds :2cents:
- marriage/ parenthood (a little too much partying after that victory at conference champs/ncaa's) :banana:
to answer the "why don't people swim after college"
some of us do! I actually swam masters THROUGH college, and am still going
But a list of reasons why people wouldnt swim after college:
- burnout :frustrated:
- hate toward swimming fostered by intense college environment:censor:
- general despise of competition :cry:
- desire to do something else (ie drink heavily, water polo, flag football) after focusing almost exclusively on training :drink:
- grad school/ med school :coffee:
- swimmer doesn't know about masters swimming :dunno:
- occupational conflicts (ie new job; no vacation time; working long hours) :notworking:
- lack of funds :2cents:
- marriage/ parenthood (a little too much partying after that victory at conference champs/ncaa's) :banana:
