Thought it would be neat to share our stories about the best athlete we ever swam with. Note that it is not necessarily the fastest or best swimmer we have trained with.
The best athlete I ever trained with was a young man that showed up for my masters swim group. He was training to pass the test to be a Navy SEAL officer. Having graduated from a non-Naval Academy college, the standards for making the officers cut were tough. He was, however, a good prospect.
With no prior competitive swim background, he was able to get his 500 yard sidestroke down to a 7:30 in a matter of a few months. However, this was not the main thing that impressed me. It was the times/scores on his practice tests which I helped time him on.
Here is what he could do:
500 yard sidestroke swim: 7:30
8 minute rest
2 minutes of push-ups: # done was 112
2 minute rest
2 minutes of sit-ups: # done was 110
2 minute rest
max number of pull-ups (palms facing away from body): 25
8 minute rest
1.5 mile run done in combat boots and long pants: 9:05.
The guy was a machine. Speed, strength, endurance, and power. Doing 25 pull-ups shortly after a hard swim, pushups, and sit-ups was impressive! The young man decided not to pursue a career in the Navy but chose to stay near family. Last I heard he had started his own business and was doing well.
Susie Atwood (Mexico City, Munich) was our coach at Ohio State in the late 70's and I couldn't believe what a natural talent she was throughout her swimming career. We loved how positive she was even though she could dive in and beat most of us at any given time.
A friend and I swam with Gustavo Borges over Xmas break one year.
I swim with a lot of good athletes out here in CO. Lots of Ironman ppl, lots of masters top tenners.
...but I'd challenge everyone to think of someone who can do something well other than swim.
One of my teammates, Mike, taught Gale Sayers how to swim. Mike swam for the University of Kansas and back then swimming was a required course - even for swim team members. The first day of class, Mike tried to talk the instructor into letting him "quiz out" since he could obviously swim. The instructor said, "No, I have a special assignment for you. You're going to teach him how to swim," as he pointed toward one of the other students. It was Gale Sayers.
(For you youngsters, Sayers was a star running back at KU, considered by many to be the greatest open field runner in college football history. He went on to play for the Chicago Bears where he set many NFL records. He was also one of the subjects of the movie "Brian's Song". See his Wikipedia page)
Sayers (and Mike) both successfully passed the swim course when Sayers successfully completed his 20-yard swim. According to Mike, football players don't make the best swimmers. Sayers had so much muscle mass that he struggled to stay afloat.
In college I took a WSI class with Rodrigo Barnes.He was a linebacker who later played for the Cowboys.He could swim fairly well,but if he tried to float he literally sank like a rock.Back then I had very little body fat and sank fairly rapidly,but nothing like him.
I think we all need to decide what makes a great athlete. In my mind, an athlete is someone who has been blessed with unusual coordination, balance, speed, strength, explosive power, and endurance. Those blessed with these attributes are usually going to excel in several sports. Many coaches out there in many sports, swimming included, actually believe that you can measure a person's athletic potential by vertical jump alone.
For example, Cullen Jones has a vertical jump of 36 inches and was a talented basketball player. Thankfully for the United States, he gave it up at some point in high school to focus more on swimming.
I'm not a big believer in the vertical jump because many endurance-oriented athletes don't have a stellar vertical jump. These individuals certainly demonstrate athleticism in completing grueling events in impressive times.
Another athlete I admire is Bruce Gennari. He qualified for Olympic Trials in the 400 free in 1984 and 1988. In the last few years, he has been named USAT Triathlete of the Year and USAT Masters Triathlete of the Year.
A very nice, humble fellow, Bruce shows up for all the local races which makes my male friends cringe as it throws off their rankings. I've seen the guy cuise a 600 yard swim crushing the field and then look like he was out for an easy jog as he did the 5k on the end of the triathlon in 16 minutes. He is getting older now (I believe he is 42) but still going strong.
...He is getting older now (I believe he is 42)...
Watch it with the age-related cracks :) ...or I may have to mention your teams' pathetic football performances yesterday...
Watch it with the age-related cracks :) ...or I may have to mention your teams' pathetic football performances yesterday...
Ha! Yes, the team has indeed struggled. Perhaps the humbling experiences will motivate them to be next year what they should have been this year.
I guess I mentioned Bruce's age in the wrong way. I'm actually the same age. Anyway, what I meant to say was that despite his age, he still wins some competitive triathlons overall. That in itself is impressive because let's face it - it sure is easier for a 25 year old to recover from the volume of training it takes to be on top in a triathlon of any distance.
Ha! Yes, the team has indeed struggled. Perhaps the humbling experiences will motivate them to be next year what they should have been this year.
I guess I mentioned Bruce's age in the wrong way. I'm actually the same age. Anyway, what I meant to say was that despite his age, he still wins some competitive triathlons overall. That in itself is impressive because let's face it - it sure is easier for a 25 year old to recover from the volume of training it takes to be on top in a triathlon of any distance.
Perhaps "resistance to the effects of aging" can be added to your list of what it takes to be a good athlete. :)
Periodically in the summer I go riding with some triathletes. One guy is in his upper-60s, a podium finisher at Kona. The man is an absolutely amazing cyclist (which is his strongest leg). It is not at all unusual in training for him to drop Kona-qualifiers who are 20 years younger than him. It goes without saying that he can drop me almost at will.
A lot of people I know who swam in college took up triathlons, running or cycling after graduation and they all did very well, some of them extremely well. I know of none who did poorly, assuming they were even somewhat dedicated to their new sport. They were not exceptions. A lifetime of swimming provided them with the conditioning and mental discipline for such sports.
IMO swimming is not unique in this regard, in either direction (good or bad). An athlete who excels at one sport is likely to excel at others. The exception would be an elite-level athlete who is merely average in any other sport...though not necessarily performing at an elite level in other sports, which is probably the point of the original post.
To be sure, some sports favor body types and physiological adaptations that make the person poorly suited for some other sports. I doubt Shaquille O'Neal would make a very good gymnast; that doesn't make him a poor athlete (as an aside, I still smile about the commercial where Shaq was a jockey in a horse race). Some great cyclists -- particularly the climbers -- appear to have the upper body of an underdeveloped 12-year-old. Heck, look at the Kenyan marathoners; could you imagine them on the football field?
And I beg to differ, but running does not require any great coordination, as Philipp implies. We're not talking about basketball, hockey, volleyball or golf here (sports where excellent lifelong runners are just as apt to be klutzy as anyone else).
Junior High,High School and College I wasn't good at any sport except swimming(really I wasn't good at anything but BR and my fly was OK.)We had a fitness test my freshman year in college and I did very well-26 pull ups,120 sit ups in 2 min,30" vertical jump-but I was still a klutz out of the water.A funny thing happened in my late 20s and 30s-I started being better than my friends in racquetball,tennis,volleyball,softball,etc.I was still a klutz,but I was such a well conditioned klutz that I could beat them.
