Often I hear people label competitive swimming as an individual sport. This could not be farther from the truth. I can't speak for every swimmer, but I know that I would not accomplish anything at practice without the support of my teammates.
My teammates are my family. We spend as much time together in the pool as we do outside of it. There's something about being submerged in chlorine and staring at a black line for hours on end that bonds a group of people together. We rely on each other for support when doing a hard workout. There's also a healthy level of competition amongst my teammates and I that pushes us to make each set our best.
Here's a little scenario to help you understand the importance of a team mentality in swimming:
Imagine you're standing at the bottom of a hill trying to push a huge boulder all the way to the top. (Bear with me, this metaphor gets better.)
This boulder is heavy and it's a hot day outside. You know you can push it, but it's going to take a few hours. You start thinking about all the things you'd rather be doing than pushing this giant rock. You could be sleeping or watching Netflix. The more you think about it, you'd probably prefer doing homework to moving this boulder. Deep down you know that it'll make you stronger to accomplish this task, but you're having a hard time convincing yourself to do it.
Now imagine 6 or 7 of your friends join you at the bottom of the hill. You all look at that rock and talk about how much you don't want to move it. Somebody cracks a few jokes while you take a sip of water and talk about how you all can move this together. You start pushing the boulder together. It's just as difficult as you expected. You and your friends are sweating as you work together. You're chatting about your plans later tonight and suddenly that huge boulder doesn't seem so heavy. Your feet are slipping as the hill gets steeper, but your friends are telling you that they know you can do it. You all reach the top and feel like you could push ten more boulders together.
This is what swimming with a team is like. You all look at your practice and know that it's going to be difficult. You know that it's going to be hard work. Sometimes you don't even want to be there. Your teammates motivate you and push you. They know what you're capable of. They want you to succeed. They believe in you and you believe in them.
One of the core values at the heart of swimming is a team mentality. USA Swimming has an excellent
article that talks about the importance of a team in swimming as well as some tips to maintain a team environment.
Here's a picture of some of my teammates and I at our first meet this season. It's a tradition for us to take a travel team photo at every meet. We decided to take an Oscar-style selfie at Ohio State.
