It’s okay. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now. But it is…
I know you feel like you did all this training for nothing and you expected more from yourself. We’ve all been there. And it’s okay.
The main thing you have to remember is this: swimming isn’t everything. Right now, in the midst of your emotions, it’s definitely a hard thing to remember. But put your life in perspective: you are not just a swimmer. You are a son or daughter, a friend, a teammate. You are whatever you want to be. There is more to life than swimming. Defining your self-worth by how fast you can go from one wall to the other is like saying that every person who ever lives can only choose one passion. And if they have a setback, they’re doomed.
Remind yourself that even though you didn’t reach your goals, you still accomplished so much.
Swim training is extremely rigorous, and you got through. Hours and hours on end of training. It would be difficult for the average person to do this, but you’re not average. You’re an athlete competing in one of the hardest sports out there. And that’s something to be proud of in itself.
If you want to, take some time off. Exercise another way. Go for a few runs, work some machines at the gym, sweat a little. Change is good. Necessary, even. By the time you return in the spring, you’ll be craving the water. The chlorine smell doesn’t seem like something you’d miss but you’ll start to realize it’s not there anymore. When you go back in spring, you’ll work harder than ever.
Let failure fuel you.
Let it make you angry but don’t dwell on it. Use the anger to motivate you to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again next season. It won’t.
I have got the talent of swimmn but no opportunity to display it
any help
I am not even getting a chance to display my swimming talent
can any1 help
Wow ,Thank you so much for this words ,my daughter just read this article and her atitude is complitly change now .She is 14years old Breaststroker (natural) Level 2 swimmer (qualifyed with 50m breaststroke in South Africa)but did not do well on the finals Regional champ .She felt exsactly this way ” all this training and hard work ” .I have been suporting her in every way and hope she will continue swimming after reading that wonderful word and your comments guys Thanks a milion .She is realy gifted young swimmer just need to stay in the pool and folow her dream.
What Great and nice words you write ….Even better , not a truer word can be spoken .
For those kids growing and trying to swim PB ‘s , remember, everybody grows at different times and at different rates .
If you can manage to keep going and training , when your growing body gives you back the new and improved model you will be tough “and” strong.
Congratulations , you just made it through one of your many plateaus.
Good stuff. Always a tough talk to have with a swimmer who’s worked his or her heart out over the season and not seen the results. I get the frustration. They know that there’s more to life than swimming, and they know it will pass, but that’s like telling a starving person that there’s more to life than food, or that someday they won’t be hungry. It usually takes a bit of recharging time before they want to give it another go, but it’s always so satisfying when they get back in the water and break through that plateau.