The things I've seen

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.

It has been about seven years since my children starting swimming.  From swim lessons, to summer swim leagues, high school, and club team.  And for the most part, the meets are pretty routine.  A swimmer adds or drops a tenth or two, a couple of DQ’s, someone’s goggles come off, and six hours later we all go home.  But go to enough meets and you’ll witness a few things that stand out among the countless back and fourths.  Here are my top ten.

1)      I once witnessed a young swimmer dive into the pool in an energy filled relay race, only to be followed by a dog jumping in after them.  The dog was not on the heat sheet.

2)      In a long course meet with chaser starts, an older male swimmer in the fastest heat of the 100 fly caught a struggling young swimmer in the slowest heat of the previous race at about the flags.  The older swimmer then swam underneath the young swimmer without losing his pace, flipped turned off the wall, went underneath the boy a second time, and continued on to finish his race.

3)      One time, a swimmer dove in for the 100 fly in a long course pool, and as everyone hit the halfway mark and flipped turn, she simply got out of the pool.  She had had enough.

4)      In a summer league meet, a beginning swimmer jumped in the pool to swim the breaststroke, throwing his arms forward at the same time as he would kick his legs out.  So, for more than a minute of vigorous swimming, he had failed to move forward.

5)      Pleasing the crowd and teammates, but not the meet officials, I once saw a swimmer launch of the blocks for a 50 backstroke race, Long Course Meters, and simply stay underwater until he touched the wall on the other side.

6)      I once saw a three way tie, but to be honest, I think there was a problem with the timing system so they gave all three swimmers a tie to make sure they would advance to finals without more controversy.

7)      I’ve seen a swimmer do backstroke in a 200 free, and fly in a 50 free.

8)      One time a swimmer was late for the start of the race and he jumped in with a running start while the others were at the 15 meter mark.  He lost.

9)      I once saw a three man relay win a 4 x100.  Although to be fair, they only won because the third swimmer simply pressed the touch pad twice after his leg.

10)   In a summer league meet, a boy asked his mom if he could buy something at the concession stand before his swim.  Minutes later, the boy swam an awkward 25 free as he seemed to punch the water a little too much with his stroke.  When he got out of the pool, he reached his closed fist out to his mother, and gave her the change, still clinched in his right hand.

Okay, I wasn’t around to witness number ten on this list, but it’s a true story anyway