Let the Paris Olympic Games begin!

Swimming's Lifelong Lessons: Personal Reflections on the Impact of the Sport

As a former collegiate swimmer, when the summer Olympics roll around every four years, I participate in the excitement and anticipation knowing that every current and former swimmer is hyper focused and ready for the Games to begin. Swimming is not a flashy, sexy, or revenue generating sport, so it does not get much airtime or love on ESPN or across social media platforms. However, when the Olympics arrive, swimming receives its place on center stage. This quadrennial event is swimming’s Super Bowl or Final Four equivalent.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. men’s and women’s swim teams passed through Raleigh, NC, to complete its domestic team training for ten days before heading to Paris. How cool is that? I read that they chose Raleigh and the Triangle Aquatic Center because of its superior facilities, including both indoor and outdoor 50-meter pools in one location. The facilities, coupled with the ease of navigating the city (low traffic) and proximity to an airport with non-stop flights to Europe made the training center an attractive destination for Team USA. As I watched their practice and fangirled my way to an autograph or two, I reflected on the profound impact swimming has had on my life, both personally and professionally.

Resilience

While swimming is technically a team sport, it really is an individual battle—you, the black line on the bottom of the pool, and the clock. The clock never lies. You feel on top of the world when you end your season with a personal best time, and utterly demoralized when that clock reads just .01 seconds slower than your previous best time. Training 20-25 hours a week, sometimes up to 50 weeks a year, only to see no progress on the clock can be disheartening. But you must pick yourself up, get back in the pool the next day, and, in the wise words of Dory the fish, “just keep swimming”. Twenty years removed from the pool, I now realize swimming was far more a mental sport than I ever realized and that there was progress along the way, even though the clock, at times, might have told me otherwise.

Confidence

As I mentioned, swimming is not a big, sexy sport; often, the sport finds you rather than you choosing the sport. Swimming found me because I was not skilled in sports requiring hand-eye coordination, grace, or contact. It was not until I won a few races at age 8 in summer league swimming that I discovered something I could excel in and that gave me focus. Swimmers often are not the 'cool kids' growing up, but the sport builds and instills incredible character and confidence that every child needs to experience during their early years. Over the years, I have also heard swimming is particularly beneficial for kids with ADD or ADHD. Its structured, repetitive, and focused nature helps kids who might otherwise struggle, to harness that focus and boost their confidence. Although I continue to work on my self-confidence, I would not be where I am today without my years spent in the pool.

Time Management

Swimmers spend a lot of time in the pool, more than we (and our parents) want to admit. By age 13, my swimming buddies and I were swimming nine times a week, six days a week, year-round. During my senior year in high school, I sometimes swam three times a day as I devoted myself to practices for both high school and club teams. This rigorous schedule taught me early on how to manage my time as I worked on a plethora of essential tasks: honing my skills in the pool, strength and agility training out of the water, and maintaining an unwavering dedication to school, homework, friends, and family. Early morning practices at 5:15 AM require you to be in bed early, cutting into your day further. Remember, I said swimming is not sexy. But when people ask how I juggle my chaotic schedule today, I credit 100% of it to the time management skills I developed while managing my swimming schedule’s impact on life.

Work Ethic

Swimming is a grind, especially long-distance swimming. Not only did the sport find me but my event found me too. My strength was long-distance, as I was not good at shorter distances and sprints. When networks televise the event I swam, you will notice they often go to a commercial break because most people do not have the patience to watch the entire race without one. While I sometimes wished my event timed in at less than a minute rather than seventeen, I am grateful today for the work ethic and stamina it taught me. These skills help me navigate my career ambitions, while balancing a fruitful life with a husband who has an equally demanding career, raising two sons to be respectful and contributing members of society and making sure our two rescue Great Danes feel the constant love they think they deserve. Stay with the race when you watch the 1500 meters freestyle later this week at the Olympics; it might inspire you!

Teamwork

Though swimming is primarily an individual sport, at the end of the day it is also a team sport. Like I said, you spend more time with your teammates than with your family, classmates, and friends. You learn to be accountable for your personal effort, success, and failures while also understanding how your contribution fits into the bigger picture. With swim meets hosting around sixteen traditional events including seven different distances and four different strokes, assembling a winning team requires a range of diverse specialties. Each event demands distinctive training programs, hours in the pool, and unique physical attributes. While the clock tells you how you performed individually, the team score or medal count ultimately reflects the team’s success. Nobody alone can excel in all sixteen events and four strokes; it takes a collective effort to reach the highest podium.

Enjoy watching Team USA this week, and perhaps one day, you’ll have a former swimmer on your team!