Courtesy by Elizabeth Wickham
Passionate: having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling. (dictionary.com)
Swimming is a tough sport. It develops strength in body and character through countless hours of practice. In order to be a swimmer, kids have to be intrinsically motivated. No one can make them put in the hard work required—they swim because they love it.
Thankfully, swimming is sport that can last a lifetime. If a child is truly passionate about swimming, they will swim through grade school, high school, college and beyond in masters and open water swimming.
If your child is passionate about swimming, it will help them through disappointments—like not making a cut for a big meet, plateaus or injuries. They’ll take that stick-to-it attitude with them throughout their lives—working hard in their majors in college and in their careers. You may have noticed that swimmers who are passionate have different attitudes than those that are merely putting in the time.
Here are 12 signs your kids are passionate about swimming:
ONE
They haven’t missed a practice in 10 years, except when really, really sick.
TWO
They’ve watched Lindsay Benko’s “Swim Fast Freestyle” DVD more than 100 times.
THREE
Their highlight of summer is to compete at a big meet or attend swim camp.
FOUR
You’ve never had to wake them up for morning practice.
FIVE
They’ve gone trick-or-treating in their swim parka, cap and goggles.
SIX
They leave prom or a concert at 9 p.m. so they aren’t tired for Saturday morning practice.
SEVEN
An exciting night for them is watching Netflix and eating popcorn with other swimmers.
EIGHT
Their essays and papers for school revolve around their life at the pool.
NINE
For girls, they don’t mind going to school with their hair wet, in a bun, and without makeup.
TEN
They can’t wait for their two weeks off at the end of summer to be over, so they can get back into the pool.
ELEVEN
You find 3×5 cards with goal times taped to the bathroom mirror.
TWELVE
For fun on Sundays, they join friends for open water swims.
What signs have you seen that swimmers are passionate about their sport?
Elizabeth Wickham volunteered for 14 years on her kids’ club team as board member, fundraiser, newsletter editor and “Mrs. meet manager.” She’s a writer with a bachelor of arts degree in editorial journalism from the University of Washington with a long career in public relations, marketing and advertising. Her stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines including the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Parenting and Ladybug. You can read more parenting tips on her blog.
Yeah none of those are true for me
I was 12 for 12 on this list growing up as an age group swimmer. I went on to get a full swimming scholarship at a division 1 University, earned multiple All-american honors, get a Masters degree, make the Olympic trials, and continue swimming as Masters Swimmer. My swimming friends and swimming family gave me community, great connections and great confidence, I went on to have an amazing professional career and a very happy and successful life–all of which I owe to being very disciplined and dedicated to swimming.. I think you need to wake up CoachT! It’s called dedication and a passion for being the best! Coach T, are you saying that you don’t want your swimmers to attend… Read more »
Please look at what you wrote! SWIMMING IS YOUR LIFE! You can still be a college swimmer and have a life outside of swimming. There plenty of top swimmers out there that have goals and are dedicated . Go look at Caleb Dressel’s Instagram page !! His a good old boy that can swim!!
I think it’s different for each person, if you want to be Great, you have to find it your way!!
Nah, my daughter is passionate about swimming but most of this doesn’t apply. She HATES morning practices and I have to wake her up daily in the summer. Does that mean swimming isn’t important? No, just that she isn’t a morning person. She rarely writes papers about swim because her life is well rounded, even if our summer vacations do revolve around swim meets. Her goals are not on the bathroom because they are in her goal book and we talk about them when we need too. Now the bun and makeup thing, that fits perfect! As does the Netflix with swimmers. There is a difference between passion and obsession though. Perhaps people that check off more of these items… Read more »
12 signs your swimmer is missing life balance and will burn out in college
1. They watched NCAAs/Worlds/etc on their own
2. They know how other friends and good seimmmers are dropping times
3. They explore ways to get better.
… they are interested in the sport.
Thanks for a great article. I’m enjoying the discussion it has provoked. It’s important to talk about passion and to encourage it! I’ve known swimmers with passion – as well as tennis players and golfers with passion – and I enjoy being around them and their enthusiasm. Some of my corporate clients will only hire candidates who have played sports on a team and exhibit passion when they discuss their experience. So, please keep up the excellent writing and I encourage all of us to find passion!
My swimmer is 0 for 12 with this article, but she still loves swimming…and is pretty good. LOL
Great article. I love to see kids involved in something that keeps their mind a active and wanting something more than a video game. So many kids are not actively involved or have something bigger than them to be a part of. Thanks for sharing.