As an "outsider" to the world of "hardcore" swimming ...
Former Member
I swim a lot and really enjoy it. It's something I've done all of my life, growing up in Southern California, and it's my main form of exercise. I'm good at it, but I do it primarily for health and enjoyment.
I've noticed from lurking around this board for several years that there seems to be a very self-congratulatory, cliquish tone to many threads and posts. It seems like it's often a small group of people who post relentlessly, as if they are engaged in some sort of private conversation where they're trying to outdo each other.
Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way. Maybe that's part and parcel of the world of "hardcore" competitive swimmers. Or maybe it's because there wouldn't be anything else to talk about, unless there weren't a constant focus on who's the "best" at this or that.
A race is something that happens once in a while, whereas a lifetime of swimming lasts, well, a lifetime. Yes, it's great to break a certain time in a certain race, but it's also great to have the self-discpline to keep at a daily swimming program and work on improving one's technique and endurance. Both are valid, and, to my mind, neither is more worthy of praise than the other.
Jim Thornton, if I recall correctly, noted a while ago that there were a lot of people lurking around the board and not really participating. If that is the case, I would propose that may be due to the general off-putting tone of things on here. (I won't give examples at this point, although I could.)
Tom, and I don't mean to sound harsh here, but I do think there have been a lot of very well intentioned replies here to the issues you've raised. I concede that I am a bit of a yuckster, one who is guilty of occasionally yucking it up with other yucksters, some of whom I have gotten to know as friends right here on this very forum, and that is something we yuckster-oriented friends do, i.e., yuck it up with each other.
Anyhow, as Mick Jagger so nicely put it, Confound them if they can't take a joke.
My advice: start a thread of your own, entitle it something like "fitness swimmers unite" or whatever you would like to discuss, then steer the topic towards what you would like to discuss. Chances are good that you will get plenty of responses. Sometimes you might have to prime the pump several times, vis a vis, posting on your own thread to keep it high in the queue. But you can raise any topic you want here (although some of mine have been jerked away, but that's another matter); anyhow, good luck. People here are nice! But you will find that, as in most venues, the tone you set is the one you will most likely find comes echoing back atcha.
Tom, and I don't mean to sound harsh here, but I do think there have been a lot of very well intentioned replies here to the issues you've raised. I concede that I am a bit of a yuckster, one who is guilty of occasionally yucking it up with other yucksters, some of whom I have gotten to know as friends right here on this very forum, and that is something we yuckster-oriented friends do, i.e., yuck it up with each other.
Anyhow, as Mick Jagger so nicely put it, Confound them if they can't take a joke.
My advice: start a thread of your own, entitle it something like "fitness swimmers unite" or whatever you would like to discuss, then steer the topic towards what you would like to discuss. Chances are good that you will get plenty of responses. Sometimes you might have to prime the pump several times, vis a vis, posting on your own thread to keep it high in the queue. But you can raise any topic you want here (although some of mine have been jerked away, but that's another matter); anyhow, good luck. People here are nice! But you will find that, as in most venues, the tone you set is the one you will most likely find comes echoing back atcha.
