I'm always interested in hearing about the USMS demographics, but I couldn't find any information on USMS and college swimming. I was wondering roughly what percentage of US Masters swimmers swam in college and at what level. I also wanted to hear from you where you went, when, and what you loved / hated most about college swimming.
Former Member
I did one year at a Div.1 college. It felt more like prison than fun.
What I loved about college swimming? When I didn't swim on the team my second year. College swimming felt like a job that I wasn't getting paid for. Since I didn't come from a well to do family like alot of college swimmers, I really couldn't afford to swim after my first year.
After some reflection, I am totally glad that I only did one year of college swimming. It wasn't my cup of tea.
What I hated about college swimming?
Living with fellow swimmers, Ugh!
Doing doubles during our taper meet.
Not having that magicial freshman year that I heard so much about from other college swimmers before me.
Swimming slow.
The training trip that turned out to be a waste of my winter break. I could have sleep at home during those two weeks and swam just as fast as our Conference meet. I did get to see Florida for the first time and that was cool.
Competing in yards. College swimming should totally be done in Long course. Yes, most pools are yards but at least the Conference Champs and up should be in Long Course. Heck, most of the time, they are at LCM capable pools anyway.
Take his experience and do a complete 180 (except the well off part). My third year was LCM ('92 Olympic Year). The only part I didn't care for is all the dual meets...its really hard to train and then have to turn around and be expected to swim fast in a dual meet when you are toast. To me the training in college was a lot easier, but you have so much "other" responsiblilites.
Two years at a Division 3 school, 1 year at a Division 2 school. I did play water polo all four years.
My coach, parents, siblings, and friends were surprised I didn't swim my senior year, I had been swimming since age seven.
I didn't improve my my times in my junior year. I had no desire to train hard and possibly not improve for another season. I wasn't that fast anyway. I was done. My grades improved, I had tons of free time to do unhealthy things, and I could keep a girlfriend.
I have never regretted my decision to not swim my senior year.
Swam just 1 one year at a D1 school, though I can't imagine why we were in D1 ... we were awful. And I chose the school purely for academic and family reasons, not swimming.
Got faster from lifting.
But was really burned out by years of distance workouts.
Hated my college coach, who seemed to loved mid-D freestyle workouts.
Tried to sleep in on weekends, but was always woken up by well meaning captains.
Suffered major injury because of all the distance, etc.
Quit after freshman year.
Succumbed to studious nerd-dom.
Took 24 years off.
Happy to train like a sprinter now. :)
Swam four years Division I, but I sucked. I was the guy the coach liked having on the team because I had a really high GPA. :) Not to mention I could really only swim distance free so I was useless on relays.
I actually loved the experience. Yeah, it was lots of hard work and there were definitely times I asked myself if just being a normal student wouldn't be more fun.
My freshman class was huge. The coach was a great recruiter and brought in a really good recruiting class and lots more (like me) who walked on. I think the first day of practice my freshman year there were around 25 freshman who tried out. That number dropped considerably in the first month and even more after the first year. I would guess only half that number were actually still around for our sophomore year. College swimming really makes you think about whether or not you want to continue with the sport.
still heartbreakingly missed the OT cuts by less than a second in each of the 400 free and 400 IM
Happened to me TWICE ('88 & '92)
I qualified for '88 in the 1500, but it was at a meet ('88 American Final) beyond the cutoff date to go to Trials.
In '92 I missed the cut in the 400 free by .08 I think it was in Prelims at SEC's. Then in the final didn't swim my race and went a second slower. That was my Junior year.
My Senior year I was so burnt out, had NO distance guys to train with and was just over swimming.......until 15 years later! :D
And it's been great for PNA. The WWU kids have attended lots of Nationals, scored lots of points, and provided quite a few relay opportunities for us!
This month's Wet Set profiles the WWU Masters: www.swimpna.org/.../2010_05_Wet.pdf
Bonuses about this particular Wet Set:
- See Page 4 for details about NW LCM Zones this summer
- I'm pictured on the front page. What, you don't see me there in the photo? Look again. I'm the blurry guy doing backstroke! :lmao:
What are some of the biggest CHANGES since you swam in college, high school, or since you started swimming?
Number one is the s-curve arm on freestyle. Not just the technique, but the story. The SMU women's coach stopped me one day back in 2006 and said, "Michelle, would you mind if I give you some pointers?" Stop doing this (S-curve). That's old fashioned!" My first reaction was, "What! Me old fashioned! Hey I was a good college swimmer!" Then my second was, OMG, I am OLD (compared to her) my stroke IS old fashioned, and I SUCK compared to her 3 Olympics! So that was the start of my complete stroke reinvention, which is still continuing today! I still laugh at myself about it!!!!
I won the Freshman superlative award for the "100 yard dash award for outrunning the Corps (of Cadets at TAMU)". For those in the know, I outran the Corp during midnight yell and made it from the goalpost all the way into the band, then got shoved around and actually ran back the entire 100 yards without getting tackled! I am so awesome! Hurray for this 2%er!
What are some of the biggest CHANGES since you swam in college, high school, or since you started swimming?
Recently I watched a video of a high school meet I swam in and the glaring difference was the underwaters (or lack thereof). People popped right to the surface even off the start back then (late '80s). I remember when I was a kid coaches encouraged a good streamline off the turns, but getting to the flags was considered fine. Anything longer than that and you were staying under too long.
