I was just wondering if anyone out there knows of masters swimmers who don’t compete and that have achieved Top Ten Times, American Records, World Records, etc. in practice. I know that stories have circulated around about swimmers like Mark Spitz who have done this (although I think he did compete :)). I was just wondering if there are similar stories in the masters ranks. It seems to me that it would be highly probable in masters swimming because so many of its members do not actually swim at meets. Therefore, I would think there are people out there who achieve these (unofficial) times during a practice session and are relatively unknown. If you’ve got a story to share, please do.
Then there are the chickensh*ts who are afraid to compete. Within this group are 2 subgroups--c.s. because they have not put in x amount of yardage in preparation and c.s because they truly suck (both of which are simply afraid of perceived failure)
OK, this wasn't real diplomatic, but I think I see where you're coming from. The first subgroup are accomplished swimmers who know--or at least think they haven't--put in the commitment in order to swim fast enough to avoid embarrassing themselves. The second subgroup has never swum competitvely and are nervous to make that leap. How many threads in this forum have been from novice swimmers asking whether they are good enough to compete? As Kurt said, both these groups are afraid of perceived failure and that's the main thing keeping them from competing.
Then there are the chickensh*ts who are afraid to compete. Within this group are 2 subgroups--c.s. because they have not put in x amount of yardage in preparation and c.s because they truly suck (both of which are simply afraid of perceived failure)
OK, this wasn't real diplomatic, but I think I see where you're coming from. The first subgroup are accomplished swimmers who know--or at least think they haven't--put in the commitment in order to swim fast enough to avoid embarrassing themselves. The second subgroup has never swum competitvely and are nervous to make that leap. How many threads in this forum have been from novice swimmers asking whether they are good enough to compete? As Kurt said, both these groups are afraid of perceived failure and that's the main thing keeping them from competing.
