One year ago I wrote my first blog for floswimming. In it, I pitched the idea of writing a blog that tried to put what's happening right now in swimming in context with what's happened. I was inspired to write for floswimming for three reasons: I love the site, I love swimming, and an interview Garrett did with Jay Fitzgerald down at Pine Crest. I went hunting for that interview today. In it, Jay commented on young swimmers not knowing the history of the sport. I thought there were, and that floswimming was the perfect forum to draw those people out.
Over time, the blog has trended more to the present. i still try and do a flashback every now and then. Our sport has come along way over the years. I'm not going to discuss the growing professionalism and profile of the sport; other people have done that far better. I'm not going to talk about solutions to fix swimmings "problems". For my one year anniversary blog, I wanted to talk about what makes swimming a great sport. These are the reasons I love swimming:
1. Morning Practice. Seriously. There is something incredibly satisfying about accomplishing something first thing in the morning. I'm not pretending that morning practice is always fun the second you wake up or when you walk there in the cold darkness. But once you take the plunge, you've got to be proud that the first thing you did, before most of your peers woke up, was make yourself better.
2. Our community. Other sports should be so blessed to have the people we have in it. Do you think Bill Belichick would take the time to invite flofootball to his practice, diagram a few of his plays and let you put the whole thing up for free? No way. But Richard Quick did just that, and he wasn't alone. Would Dirk Nowitzki ever give the public a blog about his life as an athlete with half the insight of Darian Townsend? The greats of our sport be they coaches or athletes, appreciate swimming and the modest fame it has given them. Our athletes are for the most part professional, mature and display great sportsmanship.
3. Perseverance. If there's one thing swimming has taught me and countless others [url=http://www.monclercoatsoutletstore.com/]Moncler Outlet Store[/url]
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, its to never give up. The first two years I swam as a youngster, I never beat one other person in a race. However, at the end of every year I could look at my times and see tangible improvement staring me in the face. Perseverance is everywhere in our sport. Its Dara Torres giving it one more go at age 41. Its Misty Hyman's last 50 of her 200 fly at the Sydney Olympics. its Jason Lezak, unremarkable on the international stage upon graduating from college, training twelve more years. If he doesn't have perseverance, we never see the greatest relay performance of all time.4. A sport for life. This goes hand in hand with perseverance. Over the years, particularly this last one at floswimming, I've met so many people. They've been every speed, age, and experience level. They're all training for something different. Once you've got swimming in the blood, its pretty hard to shake it. And no matter who you are, the sport has something to give while you have something to give back.
Well folks one year later I know about swimming. I know as I go on there will be new reasons, but I'm hoping that most of these stay the same.
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