❂ The Water Sports Club!

[sunbeast]

I'm here to join the party!

What you currently do:
Competitive rowing and swimming; recreational kayaking.
What you have done:
A bit of scuba, I guess?
What you want to do:
Diving and windsurfing.
What got you into it:
I realized I was no good at ball sports, so I decided to try rowing. Even though it's hard, it's pretty rewarding, and my teammates are great. Swimming I joined because I didn't want to be stuck crosstraining with my coach all winter long.
Advice you'd give to people interested in the same sport(s): There are times when you are really, really, really want to walk away. The only thing you can do is find your happy place and finish the piece, and next time your mental focus will be a little bit improved. Also, if there are optional team dinners, go to them, or even call together your own! You're all suffering together, so why not see if you have other things in common? Okay, even though that sounds pretty basic, it's important.

Favorite parts:
The feeling of crossing the finish line in one of the top 3 spots. After-race eating. My friends on the team.
Least favorite parts:
Indoor rowing. Teardown days. Indoor rowing tests.
What do you want to discuss the most on this thread? What interests you best?:
I'm willing to discuss pretty much anything on this thread; it's all good and important. Training, competition, funny stories, anything!

Thank you for having me here. I hope to see this club grow!

[sataire]

aah!!
welcome welcome, fellow fish
water-lovers!

[SoftKittyBby]

no, no

We are fish

Fish and proud.

[Solarizing]

Welcome, Ash (Grell?), Demon kitty, and sunbeast! Glad to have you guys here, this club is really starting to grow. ^_^

And yes, we are fish. Proud fish. *flops around in sardine can*

I realize I didn't even fill out my own form, haha... I'll do that XD

What you currently do: Swim practice on my own time

What you have done: Swim team

What you want to do: Swim team and water polo for competition; paddling, sailing, or snorkeling for fun

What got you into it: I've always had an inclination towards the water (well, maybe not always, but at least since I was like six). I never thought about it seriously until I was halfway through high school. I got a lot of weird comments, like "you look like a swimmer" even though I'd never done a sport before. I started thinking about swimming a lot and watching YouTube videos of people swimming strokes, which for whatever reason really captured my attention. I met a friend who was a HUGE swimmer and seeing her passion for it made me realize I had that love for it too. I started training on my own but I was in a cross-country move that made that basically impossible. Somehow I made the school swim team that year, haha. I started training super hard. I've hit a wall right now because of way too much social and academic stress, but I'm fighting to stay with it.

Advice you'd give to people interested in the same sport(s): It's never too late to join!! It feels like it is, and it will be hard, no doubt, but if you have the drive for something you need to do it. Don't let anyone - parents, friends, coaches, society, etc. - tell you you're a lost cause.

Also, the best kinds of swimmers know how to swim slowly. What I mean by that is anyone with the right body type and adrenaline can bust out into a sprint and blaze through the pool. But in order to get the whole experience from swimming, you have to swim fast and slow. Don't make everything a race - swimming is much more than racing. Feel comfortable in the water, swim slow underwaters so you can breathe better or slowish strokes so you work on your pacing... obviously I'm not telling you that swimming fast is bad, but it's important that you don't lose the feel for the water via stressing out and only caring about times.

Favorite parts: The first few moments when you're in the water and you swim without thinking and it feels great, people on the team doing/saying weird things to make everyone laugh, whenever you get along well with teammates, knowing you improved on technique/speed/strength, when you're out of the water and you get a "swimmer's high" because of all the endorphins

Least favorite parts: Feeling like you can't keep up with others no matter how hard you try, being completely physically and mentally drained, when you don't have good form on something and looking like a flailing otter, the fact that butterfly is so cool but it takes so much upper body strength, the fact that I can't dive well yet (last one is personal to me haha)

What do you want to discuss the most on this thread? What interests you best?: I want to chat about everything, it's so cool to hear the advice and stories of others! This is also a great place to comment on technique and training for competition.

[sunbeast]

Yo yo! So many swimmers here. Thanks for coming, SolarDaemon.

Does anyone have a favorite stroke? All of them I'm pretty okay with except backstroke. Something about backstroke just really irks me. I guess it's because it's harder to breathe and if you're like me, you have no idea where in the lane you are on your back.

Does anyone's team make them do Hours of Power?

[Solarizing]

Yo yo! So many swimmers here. Thanks for coming, SolarDaemon.

Does anyone have a favorite stroke? All of them I'm pretty okay with except backstroke. Something about backstroke just really irks me. I guess it's because it's harder to breathe and if you're like me, you have no idea where in the lane you are on your back.

Does anyone's team make them do Hours of Power?

My favorite's butterfly. In my opinion, it looks the best and I enjoy that it's front-oriented like breaststroke. (Freestyle and back feel odd sometimes because its sideways oriented and backwards oriented...). That said, I could definitely improve my technique. XD My favorite to actually do is breaststroke drill, when you have breast pull with dolphin kick.

No, what is that?

[SoftKittyBby]

Yo yo! So many swimmers here. Thanks for coming, SolarDaemon.

Does anyone have a favorite stroke? All of them I'm pretty okay with except backstroke. Something about backstroke just really irks me. I guess it's because it's harder to breathe and if you're like me, you have no idea where in the lane you are on your back.

Does anyone's team make them do Hours of Power?

Breaststroke, I almost got into championships on my first year of swim team with breaststroke, it's such a simple stroke but makes you seem so fast, idk, I love it,

[Solarizing]

Yo yo! So many swimmers here. Thanks for coming, SolarDaemon.

Does anyone have a favorite stroke? All of them I'm pretty okay with except backstroke. Something about backstroke just really irks me. I guess it's because it's harder to breathe and if you're like me, you have no idea where in the lane you are on your back.

Does anyone's team make them do Hours of Power?

Breaststroke, I almost got into championships on my first year of swim team with breaststroke, it's such a simple stroke but makes you seem so fast, idk, I love it,

How is your competitive rowing and swim going? Are you aiming for championships for the 2015-16 year?

[SoftKittyBby]

oh yes, next year I will definetly be going to championships
this year I won't, mainly because I'm not doing swim team, I have a friend moving at the end of the summer so I want to spend as much time as possible with her. plus my family can't afford swim team this year ;-;

[Solarizing]

That's too bad D: Although it's very admirable of you to devote all your time to your friend. I've moved soooo much and it's always great when someone's there for me.

I've been getting a lot better at keeping up an active schedule! I'm swimming a ton at my local pool and jogging. I'm hoping to start yoga soon and then move on to strength exercises. I really hope I can shape up and drop time! c: Only bad thing is, I have to be my own coach right now, so I worry I'm going to do things wrong :x There's only so much you can learn from YouTube videos, unfortunately.