6 struggles of being a flyer

1 – “What events do you swim?” “100 and 200 fly” “”What’s ‘fly’?”

Fly is short for butterfly. You’re so used to shortening the strokes, you forget that other people don’t know our lingo. While ‘breast’, ‘back’, and ‘free’ are a little bit more obvious, people usually have no idea what you’re talking about.

2 – Choice sets are basically death

Choice and best stroke sets are a scary thing. The idea of choosing another stroke is a tempting one, but you’ve learned your lesson. You tried to choose a different stroke for the first round, but then your coach asked you when you’re going to do fly, and you had to do it on round 3, when you were already exhausted and could no longer move your arms.

3 – You have big shoulders

Butterfly strengthens your shoulders like no other stroke. It is quite possible that people will be able to tell that you’re a flyer just by looking at you. Make no mistake: the shoulders are a mark of honor.

4 – People are fascinated

“Butterfly? But isn’t that the hardest one?” Yes, it is. “I tried that once. It’s so hard!” Yes, it is. “Wow, you must train so much!” Yes, I do.

5 – 200 fly is a necessary evil

Even if your speciality is the 100, you’re basically expected to regularly swim/be good at the 200 fly. If you’re a flyer, you’re a flyer. End of story.

6 – Underwaters are your best friend

You’ve learned that the fastest and most effective way to save your arm strength is underwaters. In fact, my coach once told me “the less swimming, the better”. I think that pretty much says it all.

In This Story

7
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

7 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Nan
7 years ago

Hey, can you explain to me what it means when swimmers say “I swim the one and two fly”, please?

Admin
Reply to  Nan
7 years ago

Nan – they’re referring to the 100 meters (or yards) butterfly and the 200 meters (or yards) butterfly.

Nan
Reply to  Braden Keith
7 years ago

Thanks you, Braden.

Lizanne Viljoen
8 years ago

I am a 100 and 200 flyer. I love my stroke.

Swim23
8 years ago

Nice one.. I learned that 200 fly is much easier than a 100 to a true fly-er…

swam4USC
Reply to  Swim23
8 years ago

When I got to SC I was 100 fly/50 free… I’ll give you one guess as to what Schubert turned me into.

Swimmer33
8 years ago

Worst is that every coach assumes you can do repeats of 50’s+ for every set and then when your technique falls apart they assume you aren’t trying hard haha

About Bryana Cielo

Bryana Cielo

Bryana Cielo Shortly after Bryana Cielo’s birth, she developed her love of water at her family beach house–and hasn’t stopped since. At the conclusion of her swim lessons at age 7, it was recommended that she try out for the local summer swim team. After her first season, she won the …

Read More »