It's been cool for me over the last few years seeing and competing against a number of guys from both my age group and collegiate days. However, when I think back to my college team, in particular, I'm struck by how many guys are NOT back swimming and competing in Masters. I realize this is probably the wrong audience to ask (since we're back in the pool), but, since for me swimming & competing go hand in hand and I love swimming, I'm still puzzled why more people don't come back to the sport and to racing?
Parents
Former Member
I burnt out on dealing with coaches rather than the hard work most people burnt out on, so it wasn't all that difficult for me to come back. My wife is the one who convinced me I would enjoy swimming masters, and she swam quite a while before I was willing to give it a try.
More to the question, I swim with two ex-elites that have no desire to compete. They enjoy swimming, and a masters team is an excuse for them to hop in a swim, but they really would rather not compete.
Neither will swim in my lane if there is space in other lanes. SCY we have lots of space, so there are only usually 1 or 2 people in a lane. LCM they are stuck with me and my silly desire to swim fast.
One has told me flat out that I bring out the worst in her, and she has no desire to bring the hyper competitive swimmer back. She doesn't like that person and would I stop egging her on. :angel:
The other guy is like if Lance Armstrong decided to take a beach cruiser out for a leisurely rides around the neighborhood for exercise. He is fast, but chooses to swim on slower intervals, have lots of rest, chat between sets. As far as I can tell, he is swimming purely for enjoyment and maybe to get a little exercise. I wonder if he was this laid back when he swam with pwb?
My guess is that people are not returning to swimming because they remember more negatives than positives.
I burnt out on dealing with coaches rather than the hard work most people burnt out on, so it wasn't all that difficult for me to come back. My wife is the one who convinced me I would enjoy swimming masters, and she swam quite a while before I was willing to give it a try.
More to the question, I swim with two ex-elites that have no desire to compete. They enjoy swimming, and a masters team is an excuse for them to hop in a swim, but they really would rather not compete.
Neither will swim in my lane if there is space in other lanes. SCY we have lots of space, so there are only usually 1 or 2 people in a lane. LCM they are stuck with me and my silly desire to swim fast.
One has told me flat out that I bring out the worst in her, and she has no desire to bring the hyper competitive swimmer back. She doesn't like that person and would I stop egging her on. :angel:
The other guy is like if Lance Armstrong decided to take a beach cruiser out for a leisurely rides around the neighborhood for exercise. He is fast, but chooses to swim on slower intervals, have lots of rest, chat between sets. As far as I can tell, he is swimming purely for enjoyment and maybe to get a little exercise. I wonder if he was this laid back when he swam with pwb?
My guess is that people are not returning to swimming because they remember more negatives than positives.
