Since I’m not actively on the deck coaching swimmers day in-and-out I’m not as on top of catching results in “real-time” as I used to be. It’s actually kind of nice to quickly breeze through a meet’s results once it’s completely over. You get a good view from 30,000 feet.
I was going through the Men’s Pac-12 results the other day and something caught my eye. One of the swimmers that I used to coach when he was 12-years old was making the “A” and “B” Finals. Now I wasn’t surprised to see him doing this well. He was an awesome swimmer when I had the chance to coach him. He possessed all the traits that you’d want: hard-working, feel for the water, coach-able and great technique.
The surprising part though was who he was beating. I remember when he was younger there were a couple of swimmers that he never seemed to be able to beat at the big meets. Now interestingly enough they’re all in the Pac-12 meet as well. The swimmer that I coached though is now beating all of his youth rivals.
Now all of these guys swimming are talented but the kid that I coached didn’t give up and now he’s in the top tier of one of the fastest meets in the country. It would’ve been powerful motivation if I could’ve told him how it would be 8-years later after he had lost again to his rival when he was young.
But here’s what’s great. You have that opportunity to tell yourself the same can happen for you. You may be in the same situation. Or you may be coaching a kid whose story sounds like this. There’re those particular swimmers that just seem to be invincible.
Don’t give up. Don’t let your currently situation in the sport predict what your future will hold. So often the ones that are successful at the end of their career didn’t experience a lot of success at the beginning.
I actually believe that’s why they’re successful. Because they had to develop the most important muscle when it comes to swimming – perseverance. You know that you have to work incredibly hard to do well in this sport. But sometimes it takes longer for some than others. But you can’t let that stop you from achieving your best performance and realizing how good you can ultimately be.
I hate to think if my young swimmer would’ve become discouraged and quit. What would have happened if he didn’t have the supportive parents that encouraged him along the way? How many opportunities and experiences would he have missed out on?
Don’t miss your opportunity. You need to work for it now, whether or not you’re experiencing the fruits of your labor. And who knows what you will be conquering 8-years down the road.