Talking to former swimmers

It is fun to talk to former swimmers. I normally don't ask them how their experience is, but many times they feel like they want to tell me what a positive experience swimming was for them.

A former College Water Polo, who swam club swimming most of her career as an age-grouper and high school career explained to me that although she knew that she wanted to be a polo player, she felt like the club swimming was great for her. She said that she had no regrets about doing club swimming, and felt like it prepared her for the training that finally saw in college. She recognizes now how important that club swim team training was for her success in both high school and especially in college.

This last weekend, a former teammate of mine, who did not swim in college, but did do USA Swimming competitions to about 21 years old, he said that he loved the experience of swimming. His main point was that it was such a positive experience for him, and he feels helped him become the person he is now.

Many other teammates have told me that at the time, there are doubts about whether they feel like it is all worth it, but now most of them look back on it, and are quite grateful that they pushed through and endured. It wasn't easy, but it made them stronger and helped prepare them for what they saw later on in life.

Another former teammate, who swam with us from November - June, as he was a water polo player came to me on one visit home. He had just finished his senior year playing water polo as a two-time Division 1 All-American and was about to move to Australia to play professionally. He told me that club swimming was the reason he was able to succeed in college. He was recruited as a goalie, but after becoming the back-up he changed over to a hole man because he had the speed to play the field at the college level. He said that club swimming was a positive experience that also developed enough skills of how to swim fast that it allowed him to be able to achieve what he wanted to do.

It really is great that former athletes can look back and see the benefits of swimming club swimming. So many choose not to follow through, or not make the commitment to be a club swimmer. Some times these people look back with regret as they wish they had pushed through and endured to learn the hard lessons which they had to learn another way later down the road, sometimes in more serious position. When former athletes come up to you and feel compelled to  tell you about their positive experiences it does make you as a coach feel good. It helps reaffirm what you believe that you are doing.