No one loves swimming more than a swimmer yet no one hates swimming more than a swimmer. Swimmers will complain about their sport all day but will fiercely defend it if anyone else tries to put it down. Below is an in depth analysis of why swimming is the best and worst sport in the world.
1. Early morning practices
A small part of you died every time your alarm went off before 5 a.m.
2. Weekend invitationals
RIP your social life, your weekend plans usually included day long swim meets
3. Christmas break practices
While everyone else was at home enjoying hot chocolate and Christmas movies you spent your days working your butt off in the pool because as we all know, Christmas break training is crucial for the off season
4. Less than stellar pool conditions
Green pools, too much chlorine, too little chlorine, power outages mid-practice, you've swam through it all
5. Dry-land workouts
Swimmers prefer the water for a reason, so on-land workouts are especially painful
6. Extremely tight suits
If you don't need at least two other people to help you get it on, it's not tight enough
7. Crowded meet warm-ups
Once you squeeze the entire team into one lane all hopes of getting a decent warm up instantly vanish
8. Long meets
At best, three hours; at worst, 10 (or more) hours
9. Cold pools
There's nothing quite like the feeling of jumping into an icy pool that instantly takes your breath away
10. Swimmer's diet
One of the best parts about the swimming season is being able to eat whatever you want because you know you will work it off in practice later
11. Fragile cap and goggles
There was always a sense of sadness when you had to throw away a torn cap or broken goggles
12. Hair freezing
Stepping outside with wet hair in the middle of winter=instant frozen hair
13. Having to swim your worst event
The anxiety you experienced in anticipation of the event was always worse than the actual race
14. Repeating a set multiple times
You worked as hard as you could to finish the set only to look realize you have to swim it all again
15. Taper
Inarguably the best week of the season when you finally got to slow down and see all your hard work come to fruition
