Memories as a swimmer. Almost all are from travel trips. As a swimmer it was exciting to travel. It was fun to hang out with teammates while not at the meet. Memories are what cherish most about my time as a swimmer, and the friendships developed on them.
Being a young swimmer I remember driving to the central coast for meets a lot. I remember some trips into the LA area as well. As I got older the frequency of travel increased. Long Beach, Las Vegas, Irvine were regular trips for us. Yes they included 3 - 6 hour drives, but they included some great memories.
Western Zones was a lot fun. Colorado Zones was great. Made new friends and I got closer to friends I already had. Part of me regrets not going to the Hawaii Zones, but I chose another trip that was amazing as well.
I think sometimes we get caught up in everything in the sport we forget that it is the memories that live on. It's not the good swim or the bad swim, but the memory of the trip. It's hard to explain to those who only look at times swum, and how much they improved at each meet. I feel like those moments are kept from some swimmers now in a culture that looks at how to make everything quick and simple. It's just more convenient to go to that same meet nearby. When it is the travel trip that could provide that great memory that they recall later when they remember how much they enjoyed their time as a swimmer.
I swam for a team that travelled a lot. We always went to swim against new and better competition. We looked forward to the challenge. All over the US we went to meets for the next and different challenge. Maybe that's why I have so many great memories. Shoot, I didn't even go to all of them because I wasn't fast enough. I had a lot though, and the memories are great.
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