From: rule@kenyon.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.swimming
Subject: Re: competitive career
Date: 26 Sep 92 18:53:03 GMT
Organization: Kenyon College

In article <1319@tekgen.bv.tek.com>, brucec@tekgen.bv.tek.com (Bruce Cheney) writes:
> Article-I.D.: tekgen.1319
> References: <porterfk.1.717295630@scott.skidmore.edu>
> Organization: Tektronix, Inc.
> Lines: 36
> 
> In article <porterfk.1.717295630@scott.skidmore.edu> porterfk@scott.skidmore.edu (KEVIN PORTERFIELD) writes:
>>
>>   My apologies for ignorantly implying that on average, the competitive 
>>life of a swimmer ends in your twenties. What I meant was not the way 
>>it sounded. First of all, I was NOT saying that anyone over the age of 28 
>>cannot seriously be a competitive swimmer. Everyone knows that is definitely 
>>not true and not what I meant at all. What I did mean was the public 
>>-Kevin 'KP' Porterfield '94
>> Skidmore College
> 
> And I should apologize, too, if my posting read like I was coming down on
> you like a ton of bricks. I didn't mean to be harsh.
> There are different perspectives on "competitive career", and I now have
> a different perspective from when I was 20. I've gone through age-group
> swimmer, high school competitor, college competitor, swimming drop-out,
> triathlete, master's competitor, and I will probably be an age-group 
> parent in a few years (kinda like a little league parent - only worse! :) )
> Even within those experiences, the perspectives change.  For example,
> while in masters swimming in my 30's my goals were to set lifetime PR's.
> Although this is theoretically possible (I know some good collegiate 
> swimmers who are actually faster in the 45-49 age group than they were
> in college - Robert Smith, Lake Oswego, OR comes to mind), it wasn't
> for me. So I reset my goals to something that made more sense: PR's within
> my age group.  
> 
> Of course, I still have some constant lifetime goals, (for
> example, I swear I will never let that smug faced toad Dave Jones (not his
> real name) ever beat me again, even if he is 5 years younger)
> 
> The trap that I (and Mark Spitz, too) fell into was the concept that at
> sometime your competitive career is over and you must retire. This is
> true for football and boxing and other high impact, physically destructive
> sports, but it is the ultimate attraction of swimming (to me) that
> your 'competitive career' has to stop only when your heart does.
> 

Well Bruce, I can't say that I'm THAT old (heh) I'm only 20 years old with 3
more seasons left in my collegiate career. 

The only goals that I have set myself are a few PR's in the 100 back 200 back
and 100fly as well as the 50 free.  I also need to work on turns off a metal
wall, which heniously killed me last year at Div III Nats.  

The most serious problem for a swimmer is burnout.  I remeber a girl by the
name of Wendy Oakes who was Olympic material.  She was just flat awesome.  But
when she went to UTK her frosh year, she was swimming around 30-40 hours a
week and her GPA dropped to about 2.0 from a 3.9.  She quit because she got
burned out and she just couldn't handle it anymore.  So, yeah burnout is
definately the swimmer's main enemy.

John RUle
DA RULES
A triathalon on Saturday morning? WHY NOT? ( I got next to last place too!)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.swimming