Swimmer's Starter Guide: Chapter 1

Welcome to Swimming!

You're probably too young to remember the movie The Matrix, but when the main character is pulled out of the computer simulation, Morpheus says “Welcome to the real world.” 

Swimming is the real world. WELCOME!

You probably don't believe me but think about this, until now your parents, family and teachers have done all the heavy lifting. They make your food, they pay for your rent, they buy you clothes and they drive you around. Your one responsibility was to go to school and get good grades, however in the past few decades school and education have become easier and easier. Once upon a time kids your age had to wake up early and work in the field with their family. No longer. Modern life has become…easy.

Over the same time however, swimming has not changed. The water never lies and the clock always tells the truth. There is no faking it here. There is no one to do the work for you, no one to hold your hand. In the world of swimming, people almost always get exactly what they deserve. And that is what the real world looks like. There is an old weightlifting poem that speaks to this idea and applies to all sports in general:

“The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total ba****. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs.

Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”

-        Henry Rollins

Why this Book?

This book is trying to solve three problems: 

1. Help with on-boarding new swimmers to our (very) different water world.

We think it’s the toughest sport that requires the skill of all other sports combined. There is a very big learning curve when entering the swimming world. The language is different, there is proper etiquette during practice and swim meets, a lot of new training tools to learn how to use. AND you have to learn this while intermittently holding your breath and using all of your body's muscles at the same time in ways that they were not supposed to be used. But we are going to give you a leg up to navigate this new world.

2. Make you aware of what’s expected of you so that future problems can be avoided.

A fool learns from their mistakes, but a wise person learns from the mistakes of others. We have coached and have been part of swimming for a long time. We have been a part of and seen a lot of mistakes. We want to help you avoid them so you can enjoy your swimming journey as much as possible!

3.     How to master your mind and body (aka the Swimming Machine).

No one achieves success in the pool or in life without self-control and discipline. We are going to give you the tools and knowledge to get you started in the processes of mastering yourself.

Swimming is most definitely a team sport. Nobody was built to swim. This is not an environment human beings belong in. But together, we challenge the water and fight the clock and when we do it together, the results are fun and satisfying. We are excited you are joining us!

But beyond the nitty-gritty details of the swimming world, we also wanted to give you insight into how the entire swimming team and culture operates. We believe that a good swim team is made up of three main components: swimmers (duh), coaches, and parents. Many of the issues and drama that can occur on a swim team are because not everyone understands the other parts of the team. We will give you insight into what each expects from you and what you should expect from them.

This book is specific to the swimmer’s point of view. If you are interested in the coaches’ or parents’ point of view, we have other books just for them!

We are also going to go over points on how to be the best swimmer you can be which includes talking about nutrition, improving mental toughness and helping to develop a realistic idea of what your swimming career should be.

You may have joined the swim team just to fill up the time of the day, stay healthy or maybe because your parents made you. But we highly recommend that you see this as a multi-year, if not multi-decade journey with great rewards and lessons on the way. We see too many swimmers at the end of their career happy that it is over and miserable throughout their journey. We don't want that to be you. We want you to reach the end of your swimming journey sad that it is over, but ready for the next adventure. 

At the end of the day, this journey will be what you make it. Hopefully this book can be the first step and you making the most of it!

Swimmer's Starter Guide book here!