Final Tips for New Swimmers!

●      What is more important: The stone at the top of the mountain or the one that forms the base? Don't worry about what kind of stone you are, just be happy to be part of the mountain. Some are destined to be at the top, others are destined to push others to the top. Play your part as best as you can.

●      Jealousy. Do not let this creep into your mind. Do not let yourself get caught being angry and frustrated in jealousy of someone else and “what they may have, and you do not.”  There is a difference in being frustrated with your own performance and working to make yourself better and being jealous of what someone else has that you do not. It is great to watch others achieve but make sure you are doing it in a healthy way. Be excited to see what they can do because they just showed you that you can do it too.

●      How often someone else is at workout or what they are doing at workout is not your problem or concern if they are not tearing you down.

●      Find a way to bring joy to someone else’s day. You do not know what is going on in someone else’s life. If they are missing practice, it may be for all kinds of reasons.

●      Take responsibility… for everything! After all, you are in the water, you are on the block, you are the reason the swim team exists. It’s easy to blame your teammates, coaches and parents for a bad race or bad season but every successful swimmer and person takes personal responsibility for everything that happens to them. Coaches come and go; teams rise and fall, and parents can’t take care of you forever. So, at the end of the day, if you want to make yourself and your team better, it’s up to you.

●      The longer we do this the more we see swimmers get lost, depressed, and confused because of cell phones. If you can get yourself to delete all your social media (or better yet, get a dumb phone (yes they still make those!)) and just enjoy every moment in front of you instead of looking at everyone else’s moments, you will be happier.

●      Gossip. Don’t do it. Avoid it. If you don’t have anything constructive or positive to say about someone then don’t say anything. Build others up if someone is baiting you to talk about someone else and shift the conversation in a way that you would like someone else to speak about you. Work to see the positive in people and people will like being around YOU MORE.

●      Find joy in other’s successes. Part of us building a truly fulfilling program is through your efforts in finding joy in other swimmers’ successes. Put your phone down and watch someone else’s swim, cheer, and yell for them, high five them. Share a compliment with another swimmer or even compliment their parents. Their success is yours and yours is theirs. The moment we can be happy for someone else is the moment we will likely be able to reach our own success. Everyone says we went to the moon. In reality only a dozen or so ever made it, but we as humanity can say we did it!

●      Humble yourself. At the end of the day we are a competitive swim team, yes, but we are also here to enjoy the experience with a common minded group of individuals that just like to work hard and have fun. If someone else has a good swim and yes, the worst thing ever happens, they beat you, rise above yourself and congratulate them and do not turn their great day into a bad one.

●      You can’t live and die by beating someone else, the clock is our ultimate judge of our progress. If we are as good as we want to ,be we should be trading on and off who beats who. The better that person gets, the better you will get I promise you.

●      You are who you hang out with. If you hang out with positive people you will be positive, if you hang out with negative people you will have a dim look on life. Find people that build you up, not tear you down.

●      Great swimming takes time. There is no magic trick here. It may take a year, two years or even ten. We have seen so many kids go through transformations over multiple years and become amazing young people and amazing swimmers, not perfect but amazing. We all have our flaws but if we work to better them each day in little bits, we will build something great!

We hope this book has helped you get acquainted with swimming and maybe will help you pick up a few life lessons along the way. 

Remember, the pool and your swim team are a simulation of the real world. Treat it with seriousness, learn its lessons, bounce back from failure and someday when you reach the real world and have your own career and family…you'll be ready!

Thanks for reading!

Swimmer's Starter Guide book here!