I’ve always felt like swimming never got enough credit. So, when I set out to write this article, I wanted to bring light to the fact that our sport is underestimated. I was expecting a lot of, “Swimming is so easy, all you have to do is float,” or “I could do your practice easily,” but I was dead wrong. Here are the responses I got:
ONE
“I couldn’t even swim one lap. I’d die. I don’t know how you do two hours of laps.”
-Gina, cheerleading
TWO
“Oh my God, yeah.”
-Marissa, soccer
THREE
“I mean, I wrestle, but I would assume swimming is pretty hard. Like, how do you swim that many laps?”
-Antonio, lifting
FOUR
“Absolutely. You need to use every muscle in your body.”
-Josh, hockey
FIVE
“I had to swim 500 yards to get my lifeguarding certification. I thought of running a 500, and I was like, ‘Oh, this’ll be easy.’ But then I died.”
-LaTisha, running
SIX
“Depends on the individual because if you don’t have a good respiratory system, it’s extremely hard.”
-Nick, soccer
SEVEN
“I mean compared to even football, swimming just looks exhausting.”
-John, football
EIGHT
“The thought of swimming 500 yards for my lifeguard certification seemed so doable to me at first. But the first time I got in the pool to practice, I ended up drowning after a lap and a half. Doing a back flip on a four inch beam was easier.”
-Marissa, gymnastics
NINE
“Swimming could be a hard sport because you have to work hard and be fast to make it from one end to the other and back, and still beat the person next to you!”
-Skylar, field hockey
TEN
“Yeah, it’s hard. Personally, I suck at it, so yeah, it’s hard. I respect swimmers because every sport has its different skills that you need, some people can’t even swim, so doing all the different types of ‘swims’ can be really hard. I don’t know how you guys do that breaststroke thing.”
-Justin, baseball
ELEVEN
“I think swimming on a team is hard because you are doing a lot of physical movement and not given a lot of time to breathe. You have to stay afloat at all times. The water is also really cold, which sucks.”
-Michelle, golf
TWELVE
“Yes, very hard because you need to hold your breath for awhile and you need to have a lot of back and arm strength. I respect swimmers and what they go through on a daily basis. I wish I swam. It would help me in baseball.”
-John, baseball
I swam comepetively for 14 years. When I was 15 i started to realize I was a sprinter. Being a sprinter and doing a base practice is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. A main set going from a 25 and then working up by 1 lap all the way up to a mile is pretty tough considering my low stamina. I’m glad I did it though it showed in my 50 100 and 200 free where I reached ridiculous times
Great article, I’ve seen some middle schoolers act like swimming is so easy, and those same ones are the ones who complain about their football practices 2x a week.
My favorite story is when my oldest daughter was a freshman on her high school swim team. The boys high school football team when come in on Saturdays after the Friday game and basically run circles in the warmup pool while the girls swam a typical three hour Saturday practice. The boys on the football team got mouthy about how easy it was to swim. My daughter wasn’t having it and she said she could do a football workout but there was no way any football player could do hers. So the bet was on. Since her coach and the football coach worked together in administration in the school and they knew one another’s work ethics they were behind the… Read more »
Not a surprise. Football has a lot of down time.
The comments earlier on trying rowing. I went from rowing for four years of HS then into swimming for 8 yrs as college didn’t have rowing. Was able to duplicate the feeling rowing gave you at end of race in only one race of my career. Rowing taught me 7 days a week attendance, never miss and the effort that it required. Two of the greatest sports going never thought in terms of hard in either.
My coach told me, “if anyone ever tells you swimming is easy, invite them to practice. I’ll put you each in a lane and have you swim a 500. We’ll see who makes it. Not who wins, but who finishes.”
I think the key to instill is mutual respect among athletes, not “who’s better than whom or who works harder.” All sports are hard in their own way, and the comments quoted in this article are respectful. I bet you could put your swim team on the basketball court, football field, or soccer field, and they wouldn’t score a single point against the varsity basketball, soccer, or football teams. If everyone gets away from the mentality of “who is better” and “who works harder,” and focuses more on “who works hard,” then I think it will make for a better sporting atmosphere for everyone.
Kind of like when Usain bolt said “Michael phelps is a swimmer…I am an athlete” it shows that some competitors don’t understand that swimming is actually very difficult. It is not saying other sports are easy
It wasn’t about proving that swimming was the hardest sport, they were just giving swimmers a pride boost and attempt to disprove the common misconception that swimming isn’t tough or a sport.
Don’t worry, number 10, I dont know how they do that breaststroke thing either.
So true…