Hi everybody,
I am a new contributor to the forum, though I have been reading the threads here for a long time.
I am interested to hear stories from masters swimmers who are competing because of 'unfinished business' from their high school swimming days/college swimming days.etc
I swam in college and graduated in 2006. The college was D1 but one of the slower conferences. I was not close to making NCAA's. I have swam a little bit of masters on and off since then. It's been on my mind for quite a while but recently I realized how much 'unresolved swimming regrets' I have. I have decided to up my training and see what I can do.
So I guess my question is, for all of you who have returned feeling like you have some gas left in the tank, how has your experience been? Any words of advice or wisdom to share? And the ultimate question, have you managed to exorcise any of those swim demons by returning?
Thanks in advance for reading this.
Hey, That Guy, I LOVE this Smilie! I think it's one of my new favorites!
I think the forum elves added it with Jazz Hands in mind. :) But it might be a while before we get to use it since he doesn't post often.
The best part about competitive swimming, now, is having access to tools not available to me, in 1979: YouTube swim videos, digital video to check my own stroke flaws, and USMS forums to learn about all aspects of swimming.
Youtube in particular has really changed things for the better. Recently I had the notion to switch from trying to emulate Soni's breaststroke to trying to emulate Hansen. (Specifically his wider pulling.) So right then, while that half-formed idea was still stewing in my head, I watched Hansen on Youtube and decided that the idea wasn't a bad one. Next practice I tried to imitate what he was doing, and I made immediate improvement! 20 years ago, how hard would it have been to find underwater video of Hansen's breaststroke? Or Soni's, for that matter?
My high school coach never taught me one thing about breaststroke; I had to figure it out for myself. My senior year, we learned why, when we threw Coach into the pool, after beating our rivals; she didn't know how to swim! She panicked and we had to pull her out of the pool. Then, she admitted she didn't know how to swim and wasn't really a swim coach; she was the only available PE teacher to take on the responsibility of "coaching" our team. :afraid:
Whoa, that's crazy! :drowning:
Hey, That Guy, I LOVE this Smilie! I think it's one of my new favorites!
I think the forum elves added it with Jazz Hands in mind. :) But it might be a while before we get to use it since he doesn't post often.
The best part about competitive swimming, now, is having access to tools not available to me, in 1979: YouTube swim videos, digital video to check my own stroke flaws, and USMS forums to learn about all aspects of swimming.
Youtube in particular has really changed things for the better. Recently I had the notion to switch from trying to emulate Soni's breaststroke to trying to emulate Hansen. (Specifically his wider pulling.) So right then, while that half-formed idea was still stewing in my head, I watched Hansen on Youtube and decided that the idea wasn't a bad one. Next practice I tried to imitate what he was doing, and I made immediate improvement! 20 years ago, how hard would it have been to find underwater video of Hansen's breaststroke? Or Soni's, for that matter?
My high school coach never taught me one thing about breaststroke; I had to figure it out for myself. My senior year, we learned why, when we threw Coach into the pool, after beating our rivals; she didn't know how to swim! She panicked and we had to pull her out of the pool. Then, she admitted she didn't know how to swim and wasn't really a swim coach; she was the only available PE teacher to take on the responsibility of "coaching" our team. :afraid:
Whoa, that's crazy! :drowning:
