For anyone who has ever been a competitive swimmer, I think I speak for all of us when I say that it is entirely a love/hate relationship. There are times when we are dying to dive into that ice cold water, and times when we wish we chose a sport where we were constantly able to breathe. For me, I started competitively swimming when I was five years old, and fifteen years later I now coach a USA club team. The water is, and has always been my life. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m pretty sure 99.9% of swimmers will relate to these 10 things:

1. FOOD.

We eat everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. We are constantly burning about 4,000 calories a day, so we gotta keep up on our caloric intake. You can most likely to be sure to catch us shoveling lots and lots of carbs in our mouths. One year for my High School’s state team dinner, we ordered 150 Fazoli's breadsticks, and wouldn't let each other leave until we finished all of them

2. Always being tired.

ALWAYS. Morning practice at 5:30 a.m. for 2 hours, and practice for 2 hours after school drain the life out of us. I personally looked like a zombie going to class each day.

3. Our own personal language.

100 100’s on the 100, Power Hour, IM. If you’re not a swimmer, I won’t even try to explain.

4. Huge shoulders.

We use our arms all the time, and the muscle builds up. You can usually tell if someone is a swimmer by their shoulders.

5. Fastskins = Death.

Trying to squeeze your body into a suit that is 3 sizes too small and looks like it would fit the body of an infant isn't the most enjoyable thing in the world. It takes about 15-30 min to wiggle into the death suit depending on how many people you have to help you shove everything into it without the material ripping.

6. Mental breakdowns.

Swimming is a physically and mentally demanding sport, and sometimes it can push you to your limit.

7. Chlorine is perfume.

Body odor isn’t even a thing because all you can smell is the thick and sweet fragrance of chlorine. It’s in our hair, our skin, our clothes. You can’t take enough showers in the world to get rid of it. I’m pretty sure it runs in our veins.

8. Holding a record is the BEST.

When someone asks us if we are a fast swimmer, we will humbly say we are alright, but then take any chance we get to brag about the high school record we hold.

9. People who complain and say their sport is the hardest annoy us so much.

Like excuse you. We woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. to push our bodies to their breaking point and basically drown during practice. I feel obligated to say that swimming is by far the most demanding and hardest sport. And I know this because I’ve done just about every other sport there is.

10. No matter how much we say we hate it, we love it so much more.

Swimming isn’t just a sport, it’s a lifestyle, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything.