Solo Swimmers

1) Why did you quit going to meets? I just learned to swim. No coach, no club, had no idea of how to navigate the swim world. I became handicapped. Had to learn to swim kinda like all over again. Legs are important. :) I passed the test as a stroke/turn/time judge. I've also volunteered to help do the lap counts for distance. Have you done that? Those are things that help meets, and you can do the lap counts if you are swimming in a meet. I pass on meets I know to our local newsletter. It is me who goes to meets and attempts to get people to swim or attend other meets or try things. I also bring food. :) I have tried to get a local group to do ALTS. I believe they'll try to apply for a grant next year and there is another group or two I'm going to approach with the grant issue also, and to publicize it. Have you done that? 2) Again, to King Frog's point, that's your* choice.* What other swimmers *choose* to do is up to them. As someone said the choice of can't/won't is a loaded question. Choose not to do is better. Getting out of the comfort zone and learning new things can be a positive and a confidence booster. It's not always about limitations in the context you see them. How can you judge what "limitations" might mean to somebody else? Your definition of "limitation" and your situation is unique you. Not everybody sees their world through your lens. The attitude of willing to try new things, fail, succeed, to learn from mistakes and work with others are qualities that are always useful. Maybe a good way to see the world? Yes, they chose to do it *because *they could swim those events. If they "can't" or "won't" do it, they will choose not to do so. It's up to each person to decide *for themselve*s. See above. 3) Why did you let that situation control you? Early on, having no experience, just newly handicapped, it did. Once the second team was created, I joined, and then moved on from there (like a few others), I found others who supported the attitude I have of trying anything and keep working at it. I'm not an athlete but I can still work on being the best I can, and try to go above my limitations. That's something I do encourage people with. As one quote put it, don't let your worst enemy be between your own two ears. I find that a lot, and I do have confidence in people that they could do something if they tried. You never know if you can walk on water until you get out of the boat. Why didn't you become a solo swimmer (the topic of this thread) and just train on your own? Unlike the vast majority of people, I knew next to nothing about swimming, much less competition, the culture, and had no resources around that helped handicapped adults. I do not live in an area where there is an abundance of pools: only a city over has rec pools, the rest didn't. One just recently added a pool in another city. We only recently got a couple of teams in the area with masters' coaches. All of which started after I had already gotten back into it. You have the background of being in swimming. I didn't. Being handicapped also makes a difference in coaches which you didn't have to deal with. You have your husband to photo you. I do not have any one to do that. SWIM SOLO!* Swimming solo has pros and cons. In your case, and others I know who came from a swim background, it works pretty well. For those of us not, and handicapped, the resources are not as easy. So from my POV and I suspect the worlds' POV, they would say you would have a much easier time than I would. Hence if I can figure this out with the limited resources I have, I would expect others to also. You would have an easier time getting accepted by a group without a handicap than those who do. I still see a lot of discrimination against the handicapped. USMS isn't just for club swimmers; it's for ALL swimmers. Yes it is. However, why do you think that competitions are noted highly? USMS does make more revenue from those who compete, which helps them to further the overall goal of adult swimming. The fewer clubs you have, the fewer meets you have, the more likely it is people will swim solo and dump USMS. Its not a knock but people can go for free on the internet and get workouts. There are a lot of people like you with a background in swimming. They don't need USMS. If you promote solo swims, it kinda makes belonging to a club or USMS sort of not worth it. Why do you have to be part of a club if it's making you so unhappy, over and over again? I've not been with that club for months, so I'm not sure why you are focusing on this. It happened in the past and I use it as an example. I have gone on to a club where I'm very happy with them. Been with them for months. Maybe it would have been more helpful to ask me for a timeline first? Wait a minute! Why were you in the FAST lane? I am the fast one, the more advanced one. On more than one occasion I've been moved to a faster lane or had a lane mate moved to a slower one. In terms of meets, against non handicapped people who learned as kids, I'm slower. When I go any where else like the Y or rec centers, I'm quite fast. I would have thought you would have realized this, as you have gone to meets and swam in rec centers, etc. so you would know the differences. I can easily pass and wear out college age kids, as swimming is a function of technique. You have said many times you are slow. I swam with you at the Georgia Golden Olympics. You are a lot slower than me, and as a 54 year-old at the time, I didn't even rank on the motivation charts in 200 fly. Sure, this guy ended up being slower than you, but I could just see another swimmer coming in who IS faster than you and wondering why you were in the fast lane. You don't know how fast/medium/slow lanes work in rec centers? The speed is determined by whoever is there that day/time. In many rec centers, they ignore it so everyone has a lane to themselves unless someone like me shows up who is faster. The only time that someone who has shown up was faster, we have swum together. We both knew lane etiquette, and accomodated each other. Had I moved over, I would have messed up the slower lane. That's why the lifeguards/admin didn't move us. She/he could have felt the same way about you. Besides, what IS the definition of slow/medium/fast? Unless it's defined, it's up to each person to make their best judgment. If I had shown up to the pool, even as slow as I am, I would have wondered why BOTH of you were in the fast lane! It would have been up to the lifeguard to make the call. Not us. How do these kids grow the sport for adults? I get a lot of parents saying the kids are burned out after everything and *won't* swim. There was a lot here that wasn't addressed and I hope will be later on. I disagree with you on this point more than I can express in words! I'll give you several reasons why I have EVERY reason to pay USMS and be a member; however, I will just list the most important to me: Right this is for you. Not everyone is that way, has that POV, as you tell me. That is a huge loss to the organization. What could be done with those people for USMS in terms of promoting adult swimming, I'd hope for more ALTS, etc. would be tremendous. However, there are many who simply ditched swimming and don't exercise or can go online and get workouts and not join. That is a problem, a loss. Actually, I saw more negativity from the opposite side, more personal comments, than I did in asking me to explain my position and going thru all the examples I gave. You decided you didn't want to discuss a different conversation you started in PM. Same here. I had to put my foot down and that is when you wanted the conversation to stop. No different here.

1) Why did you quit going to meets? I just learned to swim. No coach, no club, had no idea of how to navigate the swim world. I became handicapped. Had to learn to swim kinda like all over again. Legs are important. :) I passed the test as a stroke/turn/time judge. I've also volunteered to help do the lap counts for distance. Have you done that? Those are things that help meets, and you can do the lap counts if you are swimming in a meet. I pass on meets I know to our local newsletter. It is me who goes to meets and attempts to get people to swim or attend other meets or try things. I also bring food. :) I have tried to get a local group to do ALTS. I believe they'll try to apply for a grant next year and there is another group or two I'm going to approach with the grant issue also, and to publicize it. Have you done that? 2) Again, to King Frog's point, that's your* choice.* What other swimmers *choose* to do is up to them. As someone said the choice of can't/won't is a loaded question. Choose not to do is better. Getting out of the comfort zone and learning new things can be a positive and a confidence booster. It's not always about limitations in the context you see them. How can you judge what "limitations" might mean to somebody else? Your definition of "limitation" and your situation is unique you. Not everybody sees their world through your lens. The attitude of willing to try new things, fail, succeed, to learn from mistakes and work with others are qualities that are always useful. Maybe a good way to see the world? Yes, they chose to do it *because *they could swim those events. If they "can't" or "won't" do it, they will choose not to do so. It's up to each person to decide *for themselve*s. See above. 3) Why did you let that situation control you? Early on, having no experience, just newly handicapped, it did. Once the second team was created, I joined, and then moved on from there (like a few others), I found others who supported the attitude I have of trying anything and keep working at it. I'm not an athlete but I can still work on being the best I can, and try to go above my limitations. That's something I do encourage people with. As one quote put it, don't let your worst enemy be between your own two ears. I find that a lot, and I do have confidence in people that they could do something if they tried. You never know if you can walk on water until you get out of the boat. Why didn't you become a solo swimmer (the topic of this thread) and just train on your own? Unlike the vast majority of people, I knew next to nothing about swimming, much less competition, the culture, and had no resources around that helped handicapped adults. I do not live in an area where there is an abundance of pools: only a city over has rec pools, the rest didn't. One just recently added a pool in another city. We only recently got a couple of teams in the area with masters' coaches. All of which started after I had already gotten back into it. You have the background of being in swimming. I didn't. Being handicapped also makes a difference in coaches which you didn't have to deal with. You have your husband to photo you. I do not have any one to do that. SWIM SOLO!* Swimming solo has pros and cons. In your case, and others I know who came from a swim background, it works pretty well. For those of us not, and handicapped, the resources are not as easy. So from my POV and I suspect the worlds' POV, they would say you would have a much easier time than I would. Hence if I can figure this out with the limited resources I have, I would expect others to also. You would have an easier time getting accepted by a group without a handicap than those who do. I still see a lot of discrimination against the handicapped. USMS isn't just for club swimmers; it's for ALL swimmers. Yes it is. However, why do you think that competitions are noted highly? USMS does make more revenue from those who compete, which helps them to further the overall goal of adult swimming. The fewer clubs you have, the fewer meets you have, the more likely it is people will swim solo and dump USMS. Its not a knock but people can go for free on the internet and get workouts. There are a lot of people like you with a background in swimming. They don't need USMS. If you promote solo swims, it kinda makes belonging to a club or USMS sort of not worth it. Why do you have to be part of a club if it's making you so unhappy, over and over again? I've not been with that club for months, so I'm not sure why you are focusing on this. It happened in the past and I use it as an example. I have gone on to a club where I'm very happy with them. Been with them for months. Maybe it would have been more helpful to ask me for a timeline first? Wait a minute! Why were you in the FAST lane? I am the fast one, the more advanced one. On more than one occasion I've been moved to a faster lane or had a lane mate moved to a slower one. In terms of meets, against non handicapped people who learned as kids, I'm slower. When I go any where else like the Y or rec centers, I'm quite fast. I would have thought you would have realized this, as you have gone to meets and swam in rec centers, etc. so you would know the differences. I can easily pass and wear out college age kids, as swimming is a function of technique. You have said many times you are slow. I swam with you at the Georgia Golden Olympics. You are a lot slower than me, and as a 54 year-old at the time, I didn't even rank on the motivation charts in 200 fly. Sure, this guy ended up being slower than you, but I could just see another swimmer coming in who IS faster than you and wondering why you were in the fast lane. You don't know how fast/medium/slow lanes work in rec centers? The speed is determined by whoever is there that day/time. In many rec centers, they ignore it so everyone has a lane to themselves unless someone like me shows up who is faster. The only time that someone who has shown up was faster, we have swum together. We both knew lane etiquette, and accomodated each other. Had I moved over, I would have messed up the slower lane. That's why the lifeguards/admin didn't move us. She/he could have felt the same way about you. Besides, what IS the definition of slow/medium/fast? Unless it's defined, it's up to each person to make their best judgment. If I had shown up to the pool, even as slow as I am, I would have wondered why BOTH of you were in the fast lane! It would have been up to the lifeguard to make the call. Not us. How do these kids grow the sport for adults? I get a lot of parents saying the kids are burned out after everything and *won't* swim. There was a lot here that wasn't addressed and I hope will be later on. I disagree with you on this point more than I can express in words! I'll give you several reasons why I have EVERY reason to pay USMS and be a member; however, I will just list the most important to me: Right this is for you. Not everyone is that way, has that POV, as you tell me. That is a huge loss to the organization. What could be done with those people for USMS in terms of promoting adult swimming, I'd hope for more ALTS, etc. would be tremendous. However, there are many who simply ditched swimming and don't exercise or can go online and get workouts and not join. That is a problem, a loss. Actually, I saw more negativity from the opposite side, more personal comments, than I did in asking me to explain my position and going thru all the examples I gave. You decided you didn't want to discuss a different conversation you started in PM. Same here. I had to put my foot down and that is when you wanted the conversation to stop. No different here.