Splashing Into Summer: Four Reasons Why Summer Swimming Is The Best
Summer is in the air or is it the chlorine? The temperature is on the rise and school is out, so there is no better time to swim. The thought of plunging into an icy cold pool is enticing to all. For swimmers, this is a time of year filled with grueling practices and opportunities to grow.
Here are four reasons why swimmers tend to love the summer season over any other:
Endless Time For Grueling Training
We all know how coaches forget about summer fun. If you have ever tried to make plans in the summer, you would know how it is impossible between double practices and drylands. Practices become grueling and extensive as there are no limits because of school. From personal experience, there were days of two practices with each being two-and-a-half hours long with drylands adding up to an hour long. A swimmer’s stomach yearns for fuel, trying to keep up with huge portion sizes and filling protein shakes.
Sun’s Glow On Your Skin
Who doesn’t want a tan? The golden glow on your skin is the greatest takeaway from summer practices, besides the feeling of accomplishment that comes with completing a grueling practice. Soon, you begin to compare tans with your teammates with some teammates being unlucky with a reddish tint. The first time you burn during practice serves as a learning experience for the next. Soon, you won’t ever forget your sunscreen again (until next season).
Summer League
The happiness and laughs that stem from the summer league experience. From the joy of winning a ribbon to making new friendships, memories from summer league stand out to swimmers. Building new friendships, having fun, and developing love for the sport is what makes up summer league. Times tend to be overlooked in exchange for the prize that places a smile upon your face. Many swimmers look back at summer league as the beginning that showed them what this amazing sport has to offer. It promotes a love that can be carried into the fall season, leaving the swimmer yearning for an experience just like the summer. Summer league teams, no matter the size, should continue to be the main highlight of a swimmer’s summer.
Learn Lifelong Skills
No individuals are more passionate than swimmers. Swimmers understand that sometimes that 6 a.m. alarm is far from desirable, but we must push through. That set of 100 x 100s that coach put on the board? Your mind becomes stronger than your body as you push through the boring, grueling set. Swimmers have some of the best time management, perseverance, determination, and dedication. Other children couldn’t fathom waking up before the sun in the summertime, where you imagine sleeping in and staying up late at night. However, swimmers do this regardless of the time of year. It builds character that no late night video gaming session could provide you with.
Swimming in the summertime is more than just a fun way to cool off. It is a time that athletes dream of and it pushes them through the tough spring season. Summer is a captivating season of its own especially when it is an Olympic year. The Olympics give swimmers an experience to watch each day after their own practice. It inspires the next generation to continue pushing through.
All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.