Relays: The Fun and Fast Nature of Uniting As a Team
By Annika Hobson, Swimming World College Intern
In an individual-based sport, relays bring swimmers together for fun and fast races. Relays score big at meets, so the crowd and the teams in attendance get rowdy and excited to cheer for their teams. However, due to the heightened scores relays produce, they can also be anxiety-inducing events. A mixture of fun and pressure, relays produce excellent swims as swimmers have even more motivation to swim fast for their teams.
Pressure
Walking up to the blocks following your relay teammates, you feel butterflies pounding and swarming in your stomach. Anchoring a relay can feel daunting, especially at a big meet where relays score double points. The pressure of additional points makes relays pivotal for team scores, which can make all relay members a smidge nervous. One of the most nerve-wracking positions on a relay is anchoring as you must watch everyone else swim their leg. Additionally, it feels monumental being the one that must get to the wall first. But a relay is not comprised of just the final leg. The result of a relay may feel like it comes down to the final leg, but all four relay members contribute, in a successful or even a disappointing relay swim.
The next time you approach the blocks with your relay team feeling nervous, remember nerves are good. Feeling nervous means you care, and you are going to do everything you can to put up a good swim for your team.
Teammate Bonding
Relays are an excellent way for teammates to bond. The camaraderie produced by joining up to swim the fastest combined time possible is a great feeling. Teammates cheer the loudest, hug the hardest, and pump each other up the most for relays. The energy coming off the pool during relays is highly enticing. The whole team, not just the four swimmers, bonds over the race and is invested. After relays, you can see the deck aglow with smiles, laughs, and yes sometimes disappointment, but in any scenario, teams support one another. The allure of a speedy relay creates a palpable excitement that spreads fast.
Variety
Relays have the additional benefit of allowing a swimmer to contest some distances they would not have the opportunity for otherwise. The best example of this is the 200 medley relay. Once an athlete ages out of 12-and-under age group swimming, they can no longer swim the 50s of a stroke except for the 50 free. Therefore, the 200 medley relay is exciting because older swimmers get the chance to sprint in their favorite strokes.
Another occurrence that relays provide is the opportunity for swimmers to race with teammates they do not usually get to swim with in practice or in other races. In the 800 freestyle relay, distance swimmers and sprinters may join forces to swim some good 200 freestyles. Or in the 400 freestyle or 400 medley relays, mid-distance swimmers and sprinters team up to create some fast relays.
Open and Shut
To further emphasize the competitive nature of relays, in an end-of-season championship meet, relays tend to be the first and last events of the meet. For example, in NCAA conference meets and the NCAA championship meets, the first day of the meet only has the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. The last day of a conference meet ends with the 400 freestyle relay. The deck explodes in cheers as swimmers holler for their teammates to get to the wall first.
Fast and Fun!
Standing behind the blocks in a pre-relay huddle, pumping up each other to have a good race is just one of the fun bonuses of swimming relays. Relay events bring together teammates, allow you to swim different events, and produce fun swim meet memories. One of the best things about relays though is they are fast! Relay starts, the ecstatic environment of relays, and the support of the team behind the swimmers allow for some super-fast swims.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.
When I was an 8u, our club did Relay Carnivals. Mixed gender, mixed ages, all butterfly, 25-50-75-100, etc. It was always a blast!