feedback please?

Question: What are you going to do with your time instead of swimming?

I think most of us that swam for years felt burned out at one point or another. For me it was almost halfway through my freshman year. Not so different from where you are now. I wasn't recovering well from a broken arm, I was homesick, wasn't fitting in with the upperclassmen as I would have hoped..... I still remember the night I went on a long walk and asked myself over and over if I was ready to give up swimming FOREVER. I decided that I was not. By the time our championships rolled around, I was hooked again, and sad to say goodbye to swimming three years later (goodbye for ten years, anyway). First, I would keep your head down for the next few weeks, prepare yourself, and kick butt at the championships, if only for your team's sake. You owe it to them. THEN, after a few weeks, the question to ask yourself is, how long have you felt this way? If it's only been a month or two, I wouldn't make any irreverible decisions based on how you currently feel. But if, by April you still don't feel the desire to swim, it may just be your time to retire. Good luck!

This post probably is the one that I can most relate too--as last year when I joined masters and first joined the forum my first thread was along the same lines as yours. I hate college swimming. I loved swimming in high school, middle school, club teams, uss teams, I even love swimming during college breaks when I had to go home and swim on my own. I love swimming on my own even during college season when I just go to another pool to swim a little bit. I am on a scholarship for swimming as well and I am currently at a division 2 school. I too have not improved in several years and I agree--its frustrating and hard. It's hard to get up every morning and put forth the same effort and positive attitude that your expected when your heart isnt in it--how well I know that! I was convinced to keep with it--not quit the team. However, I didn't really have the option of transferring schools--so if I had quit I would have lost my scholarship and then been responsible for the high tuition costs, so I thought of quiting as throwing away $10,000. While the money is nice--I can not wait to go to graduate school next year and not have any responsibility to a team, because I feel like I have been quite disappointed with my college experience and most of that stems from my involvement on my college team. I don't think its necessarily the college swimming as much as it is my team and my coaching situation. I don't mesh with my teammates very well and my team is very cliche and we have completely different interests and attitudes. My coach and I have been constantly creating friction which has made my time on the team even harder. I think that if you no longer love swimming, if its no longer the same for you as it was before--you know what you should do. People really can't compare experiences or advice on this kind of topic because there are so many factors that come into play. I wish I had quit my team when I knew I no longer loved swimming because this season has been similarly disappointing and I am often miserable--so I have given up caring--which makes the whole things worse. If you end up missing it and being miserable look for a masters team or uss team to join--something that isn't so rigid and suffocating as the college swimming setting and you probably will learn to love swimming again. As much as I can't wait for my college season to be over--I am even more excited for the chance to start practicing on my own again and swimming masters meets. Sometimes its just the environment that burns you out...

sounds just like my college team. it has been a horrible experience don't get along with the girls and have a coach who is 80 and was hired a few days before the season Have you considered transferring to another school. I assume that NCAA rules are the same for x-fers in swimming as they are in football or basketball or any other sports. Perhaps you could transfer, swim for a club team for a year and then swim another season or two of college! Just a thought.

Turn your frustration with swimming into hard work through the conference meet. Than take a couple of weeks off and contemplate whether or not to give it up. I gave up a cross country and track scholarship after my freshman season and I have regretted it ever since. That was 20 years ago.

Hey Everyone, I wanted to get some other swimmers inputs. I am currently a freshman in college and have been swimming year round since I was nine. I lived and breathed swimming all through high school and it was my life. Never did I think that I would quit swimming after my freshman year of college. I know longer love swimming and I can't continue to keep doing it. I will be giving up my scholarship next year AND will be transferring to school closer to home. I guess what I want to know is and I making one of the worst decisions of my life. I don't want to continue to do this but what if I miss it or I am miserable. I have my conference meet in three weeks and want to go out on a bang, just like everyone does when they are giving up something they love to do. My question is how do I get through this last three weeks and enjoy it and go out on a bang and what is your guys opinion on my decision to hang up swimming. I would love any opinions or feedback. Giving up on a scholarship? Don't do it man! I finished one year University and did well at CIAU's (Canadian University) only to quit the next season, and I have regretted that decision ever since. That's probably the main reason I'm a master now. The point is, you're young and you may not understand this now, but you will age and you will regret throwing away an incredible opportunity. Sure, the training may be a chore right now, but it is your duty to respect the position of privilege you have, by finishing your degree. I'd give so much to have that opportunity again. No, you simply can't make that choice, it's not an option. Without a degree doors will start to close, and you'll be on the outside of a fast moving world, wondering what you missed. Those jobs will not be available, and you will have lost that game. You think you're tired now, wait until your body aches from not training. Your muscles begin to atrophy and you start to feel fatigue from doing nothing; you can say goodbye to everything you've ever worked for. The day you quit, is the day you begin to age. No, hold onto your youth and vitality, continue to swim. You must understand that these feelings will pass, and what you'll earn from this dedication will be the foundation for the rest of your life!

... I lived and breathed swimming all through high school and it was my life. ... I know longer love swimming and I can't continue to keep doing it. ... I don't want to continue to do this but what if I miss it or I am miserable. ... want to go out on a bang, just like everyone does when they are giving up something they love to do. I see alot of back and forth in your comments. I agree with the arlier advice that you finish the conference meet and then take a month off before you do anything drastic. In the end, it's your decision. However, it is not an all or nothing, life-ending one, as many Masters returned to swimming later in life. The question is, what will you do instead of swimming? Will you join a greek house, a club, do theatre? Swimming provides alot of private and social structure, and I think that is what you may miss most of all. Just some food for thought.

Stick with it and make your decision in the off-season. It's too hard to get perspective right now when you're in the middle of it. Also, talk to your coach and say that swimming is no longer fun for you. Maybe it's just the pressure of competition that's getting to you. Maybe a session with a sports psychologist would help. Personally, I regret not swimming in college even though I would have made the team.

sounds just like my college team. it has been a horrible experience don't get along with the girls and have a coach who is 80 and was hired a few days before the season

I think I first read this from someone on this forum. It's a great Motivational Letter from Gary Hall, jr. Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't. Good luck in either case!