Anyone who has ever been a competitive swimmer will be happy to tell you about how challenging of a sport it is. Being on a college swim team, in particular, can be incredibly fun, but it has challenges at every turn. Being a competitive swimmer requires building up a physical and mental endurance without parallel. But the challenges of the sport teach us valuable skills in and out of the pool. Being a swimmer is a formative experience and one that helped shape some of the most impressive people I know. Here are some of the lessons swimmers take away from the sport.

How to work with others.

As a collegiate swimmer, you spend hours every day with your teammates. You usually spend two to three hours a day in the pool, sharing a lane with several teammates. But of course, there’s the time before and after in the locker rooms. And if you’re a part of a team like mine, you probably eat meals together, study together and pretty much use any excuse for further “team bonding.” Some teammates might be your best friends in the world, but there may be others on the team whom you don’t get along with. And that’s OK, but when you’re spending hours around each other every day, you have to find ways to make it work.

Time management.

When you’re in the pool for a couple hours or so every day, you don’t exactly have all the time in the world for your other commitments. Try being a full-time student and college swimmer, then add in whatever other commitments you’ve got and chaos can break loose. But luckily, it doesn’t have to. With time management skills, it’s sink or swim. (See what I did there?) You have to learn quickly how to manage your commitments and use your time wisely, or you just won’t be able to keep up with such a demanding schedule.

Patience.

Dropping even a millisecond from a best time can be a formidable goal for a sprinter. And when you’re in the middle of the season and your body is exhausted from heavy training, it can start to look impossible. Sometimes you even add time instead. It can be incredibly frustrating -- just when you’re working your hardest, you start performing even worse. At times like these, the best course of action is to be patient with the sport and your own body. There’s usually no other way to get through the most challenging parts of training.

Responsibility.

When you’re part of a team, each person’s actions represent and affect the entire group. Each individual in the team has to learn quickly to take responsibility for his or her actions. Skipping a practice means letting down a group of people who are practically family. Every swimmer wants the best for the team and acts in accordance with that. Everyone becomes a part of something bigger, and every decision is made with that responsibility in mind.

These are just a few of the lessons that I have personally taken out of the pool with me. Being a swimmer is one of the most challenging yet formative experiences I know of. There’s a reason swimmers are such wonderful people!