By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern
Swimming is a mental sport. That is an uncontested fact. How much of that ties into the physical part of pushing yourself endlessly through the water is another question.
Sometimes, we get stuck.
Through no fault of our own the sore throat starts to creep up on us. That’s okay, proper hydration and some cough drops will solve that. But then the sniffles start and the pool becomes one giant tissue. And then you can’t breathe and you’re hanging onto the wall hacking out your lungs.
I’m sure I’m painting a familiar picture. We’ve all been there at one point in our lives. There are plenty of studies regarding whether or not swimming through the common cold will actually make you worse off. But what happens when there is no choice? What happens when you’re told those dreaded words: “You need to take a break.”
Recently, Vassar College has had all sorts of illnesses running rampant through the members of its swim team. Sophomore Emily McDaniels is one such teammate.
“Until I came to college, I never got sick,” McDaniels said. “Since I’ve been at Vassar though, I’ve been hit by waves of really sucky diseases/health problems. In the last year and a half, I’ve had heart surgery, mono, lyme disease, bronchitis, and potentially pneumonia, along with several bad colds and sore throats.” At the time last spring when she had mono, McDaniels was out of the pool for three months.
In contrast, freshman Lukas Harries explained that his illnesses tend to come on schedule, once every one or two months. Bronchitis once kept him from swimming for three weeks.
“It definitely makes me want to do everything I can to stay healthy,” he said. “But, mainly once I get to any big meet, the fact I can look back at the season and see what I’ve come back from and accomplished really proves to me that I earned my place.”
The Mental Game
For McDaniels, being sick is nothing but discouraging. “Being out of the pool definitely shakes my confidence and mental game. I feel less prepared and more nervous when I know I could have done more,” she explained. Especially when illness has been such a recurring issue for her.
“I’ve gotten to the point where last week I asked if I could just swim through pneumonia,” McDaniels said. Medicine only gets you so far in some situations. “It sucks because there’s almost never anything that can get better without taking some time off to rest,” she added. “I actually get really nervous for dual meets as well. I want to show that I’m getting faster and stronger as the season goes on, but I’m worried that all this time off will just set me back and I’ll have to start over.”
Being sick isn’t just frustrating for the lack of training. As a freshman, Harries explained, “I personally feel that being out of the pool for an extended period of time does affect my cohesiveness with the rest of the team, as I’m simply not there to undertake the same challenges as them.”
When you’re just getting wet after being out of the pool for awhile, it helps to have your team supporting you. Harries, however, is still trying to get to know that team. “The fact is I’ve only been here for a little over two months and I’m still trying to figure out my place in school and on the team. Being out of the water for a week is definitely not making either of those goals any easier.”
Photo Courtesy: Elizabeth Balter
Are You Letting Your Teammates Down?
With a recent string of exciting meets, a dual meet against New Paltz being the most recent, the cost is suddenly much higher for swimmers unable to swim.
“New Paltz was a really weird situation where I felt like I shouldn’t be interacting with the people who were actually swimming, because I wasn’t really one of them,” McDaniels said. While she had fun playing coach by helping set up and taking splits, she didn’t feel as much a part of the team as she would have liked to.
McDaniels also pointed out that, when the events she normally swam happened, “It also was really hard to have to sit and watch the events that I swim when they happened without me.” While the 400 IM is not the easiest race to swim, it was equally hard for McDaniels to have to watch and take splits. Even with a win on the women’s side, McDaniels couldn’t help but feel sad. “I was really excited about the win, because it was basically the first time we beat New Paltz, but I felt like I hadn’t contributed at all.”
For Harries, only being able to cheer from the sidelines has strengthened his resolve.
“Being at meet but unable to swim, especially recently, has made me appreciate being able to compete so much more,” Harries said. “Watching and cheering on your teammates from the sidelines is really such a different experience than from when you’re in the water with them. It’s honestly so strange watching your team trying and and giving it their all, knowing you should be right there with them, but you just can’t be.”
When your body’s response to Coach’s advice to “Just stay healthy!” is to shut down, there’s not much you can do to stop it. But when it comes down to being out for a few weeks or being out for the rest of your career, it seems like a much better option to let your body rest and heal.
After all, whether you’re a new team member or a returner, your teammates are there as your extended family. They will support you from in the water, even as you’re supporting them from on deck.