The natural progression of swimming

By Alan Tapley

Editor’s note:  Alan Tapley is the parent of two female swimmers, ages twelve and fourteen.  Over the past eight years he has been with them at hundreds of meets and practices.  He has had countless conversations with swimmers about what they would like the public to know about their pursuit of this grueling sport.

Swim lessons.  You hope to make it from one side of the pool to the other.  Your best stroke is underwater, holding breath, with eyes open.  The goal is to make it through the lesson without a bathroom break, and to eventually be proficient enough that your mom doesn’t have to watch you closely at the local pool each summer.

Summer swim.  Your goal is to not finish last in the freestyle or backstroke events, and not get disqualified in the breaststroke or butterfly.  You’ll take a ribbon of any place, any color, and you’ll most likely leave it in your parent’s car for the rest of eternity. 

High School swim.  Your first goal was to make the team, then you realized that everyone made the team.  Your second goal was to make it to State, then you realized that only club swimmers made it to State.  Finally, you hope for a banner, a letter, a picture in the yearbook, or a team championship.  Years from now you can make up your own stories of high school greatness.

Club swimming (under 12).  It starts with simply wanting to not go last in your lane until you dream big and desire to move two lanes over sometime soon.  The next step is moving to the Orange group, or the Red Group.  You honestly don’t know the difference between the groups except that the kids are a little older, a little faster, and your parents pay a little more.  Best times start to drop like flies and you dream of making 12 and under State, then contemplating whether to turn pro before or after the next Olympics.

Club swimming (13-14).  You quickly understand the difference between an older fourteen year old and a young thirteen year old.  You are introduced to morning practices, the 200 yard fly, and Snapchat.  Your parents throw up for the first time as they are forced to buy a technical suit. You throw up as your coaches introduce you to long hard sets and dryland.  You hope for drops, fancy cuts, and travel meets.  You would love to make State, but even more so, you’d love to make an All-star squad, or dare I say it, even Sectionals.

Club swimming (15-18).  You have an exam and a paper due next week and are hoping that practice somehow gets canceled.  You swim six days a week, including three morning sessions, and yet you haven’t dropped time in ages.  Your high school coach expects you to throw down a best time with no technical suit, no taper, at a lousy pool, and on a Tuesday afternoon following a full school day.  You’re just trying to make High School state so the pressure is off a little.  If you made Sectionals you are dreaming of Juniors, and if you made Juniors you are dreaming of the next Olympic Trials.  And no matter how well you have done, you want nothing more than to swim at the division I level at your school of choice, but each day that list expands to division II, and III, and now you’re willing to go almost anywhere.