Were you on a high school swim team?

[Guest kayden]

Anyone on the swim team when they were in high school wanna help me a bit?

 

 

I'm writing a story right now about a boy who joined the freshmen swim team. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible in my portrayal of this, but I have no experience on a high school swim team, and my internet research has produced disappointing results. I'm hoping to get some answers to a few questions I have from somebody(s) who has been on a high school swim team. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

1. How often and when were practices? (Did you meet daily, every other day, etc.? Did you meet only in the mornings, only in the afternoons, both?)

 

2. How often were and on which days were swim meets held? ("Meets" are the competitions, right?) And also, did you travel to different to schools to compete, kind of like the football team, etc. does? (I'm asking directly about the freshmen swim team...)

 

3. Did the boys' and girls' teams practice or compete together, or were they separated in both practices and competitions?

 

4. How often were you doing practices in the pool, how often were the workouts in the weight room, etc?

 

I may have more questions later, but for now any replies that'll answer any or all of those questions will make me very happy! Thanks!

[JamesSavik]

We didn't have a pool. We had four sports: footbrawl, bastardball, faceball and the sack.

[MikeL]

You might get some insights from a story titled Brae at http://www.screeve.org/fiction/kconnors/brae/brae.shtml

 

This is a college swim team story, but might be helpful. Happy writing.

[MikeL]

You might contact your fellow author, Camilo, who is on a high school swim team.

[Guest kayden]

We didn't have a pool. We had four sports: footbrawl, bastardball, faceball and the sack.

 

Ah, so you were one of those people who actually had FUN in high school.

[Tarin]

My sister was on a swim team. They had two practices a day, except Sunday. One in the am before school, one in the pm after school (early afternoon on Saturday). Usually one practice per week (at least) is "dry-lands," where the coaches basically attempt to kill you on dry land instead of drowning you. Practices in the am were usually 60 minutes, in the pm they were 120-150 minutes. Weeks with meets generally saw shorter pm practices.

 

Yes there is travel involved, though not every school has a competition-ready pool. Meets happened on Tuesdays in her league, but my cousin had them on a different day.

[Guest kayden]

My sister was on a swim team. They had two practices a day, except Sunday. One in the am before school, one in the pm after school (early afternoon on Saturday). Usually one practice per week (at least) is "dry-lands," where the coaches basically attempt to kill you on dry land instead of drowning you. Practices in the am were usually 60 minutes, in the pm they were 120-150 minutes. Weeks with meets generally saw shorter pm practices.

 

BAH! I was afraid two practices a day were the norm. Now I have to decide whether or not to go back through the chapters I've already posted and change my poor decision to make the character's practice only in the mornings. Oh bother...

 

 

Separate but equal. Girl's season is usually just before boys. (Fall for girls, winter/early spring) for boys They don't often practice together, however they show up to each other's meets to give rub-downs, cheer, etc. You get made fun of if you get a boner during a rub-down. One of my friends did his freshman year and he was known for that his entire swim career.

 

Hm, another inaccurate depiction I've already put in my story. I don't think I'm going to go back and change anything, though, but maybe a little. Unfortunately, a main plot point is having the main character and a girl start on the same day. I won't let them practice together anymore. Tsk. Tsk. Were meets held after practices or did they skip practice when they held a meet? Also, could you elaborate on what exactly a "rub down" is? I was unaware of this interesting-sounding ritual, so I'm not entirely sure what it involves, (though I have a pretty good idea...), but it sounds like something I might what to incorporate into my story!

 

 

By the way, her team sucked so Cammy might be able to give you better information on winning teams. I'm sure I can pump her for more information though if you need.

 

My story won't really go into the competition side of things much, so information from a losing team is just as valuable. I just wish I had posted this topic BEFORE I started writing, so that I could've saved myself the trouble of going back and changing things, and I could've avoided having the inaccuracies that will most likely be a permanent thing in my story now. Oh well. Anyway, thanks for your input! It's greatly appreciated and should help make my story even better!

 

 

On a side note, this just serves to make me reminiscent of my early high school days when I had wanted badly to join a sports team. Oh, to go back ten years and have joined the swim team! I'll bet it's a great experience being on a team like the swim team, but I guess I'll never know. *sigh* regrets. Then again, if I had joined the swim team, I might never have dropped out of high school and joined the Army, which was a team experience I wouldn't trade for the world. It's funny how things work.

 

This topic is making me feel like an old geezer.

[Arpeggio]

Lmao, I can swim... I can swim to my death bed. Lol

 

Actually, I cannot swim at all. I'll just leave now.

[C James]

Anyone on the swim team when they were in high school wanna help me a bit?

 

 

I'm writing a story right now about a boy who joined the freshmen swim team.

[hh5]

Lmao, I can swim... I can swim to my death bed. Lol

 

Actually, I cannot swim at all. I'll just leave now.

 

I can get that ...

 

But wouldn't it be great someone saving us from a watery grave

[Krista]

Rub downs are pretty much vigorous massages to loosen the muscles... to keep from cramping and the like.. I've seen it done to a few swimmers.. I didn't think it would be too.. relaxing, but that was during a competition. Also, you may look into cool down methods... a lot of swimmers do multiple events.. so after their event they'll go sit in a different pool (shape similar to a hot tub) or do some "lazy" laps in a practice pool...

 

I bring those up, as it would be good conversational places if you're not going to actually focus on the competition side and want to fill space when those scenes are lacking..

 

I'm not a swimmer... and that's just what I witnessed attending a swim meet.. but since it is your story, you can get away with being slightly inaccurate as long as you get the basics down... I bet every high school will do something different, I know it was like that in the sports I played..

[C James]

Rub downs are pretty much vigorous massages to loosen the muscles... to keep from cramping and the like.. I've seen it done to a few swimmers.. I didn't think it would be too.. relaxing, but that was during a competition. Also, you may look into cool down methods... a lot of swimmers do multiple events.. so after their event they'll go sit in a different pool (shape similar to a hot tub) or do some "lazy" laps in a practice pool...

 

I bring those up, as it would be good conversational places if you're not going to actually focus on the competition side and want to fill space when those scenes are lacking..

 

I'm not a swimmer... and that's just what I witnessed attending a swim meet.. but since it is your story, you can get away with being slightly inaccurate as long as you get the basics down... I bet every high school will do something different, I know it was like that in the sports I played..

 

 

I'm betting you're right and that there is a lot of variance from school to school, and over time. For example, I never saw a rub-down in high school. Hot tub? I saw that at one meet, but it was in the locker room. That's the only time I saw one on school property, until I got to college. My guess is that swimmers these days have it much better in that regard.

[KiwiShadow]

This is just my opinion... but I knew people that did swimming and only had it once per day so perhaps it depends on the country? What you have to remember is most people aren't going to know anyway so if an inaccuracy actually works best in your story, I'd just keep it. I can understand you wanting to keep everything accurate though so whatever works for you. Good luck and I would love to read it when you're done.

[Tarin]

Rub downs are pretty much vigorous massages to loosen the muscles... to keep from cramping and the like.. I've seen it done to a few swimmers.. I didn't think it would be too.. relaxing, but that was during a competition.

[Y_B]

Anyone on the swim team when they were in high school wanna help me a bit?

 

 

I'm writing a story right now about a boy who joined the freshmen swim team. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible in my portrayal of this, but I have no experience on a high school swim team, and my internet research has produced disappointing results. I'm hoping to get some answers to a few questions I have from somebody(s) who has been on a high school swim team. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

1. How often and when were practices? (Did you meet daily, every other day, etc.? Did you meet only in the mornings, only in the afternoons, both?)

 

2. How often were and on which days were swim meets held? ("Meets" are the competitions, right?) And also, did you travel to different to schools to compete, kind of like the football team, etc. does? (I'm asking directly about the freshmen swim team...)

 

3. Did the boys' and girls' teams practice or compete together, or were they separated in both practices and competitions?

 

4. How often were you doing practices in the pool, how often were the workouts in the weight room, etc?

 

I may have more questions later, but for now any replies that'll answer any or all of those questions will make me very happy! Thanks!

 

 

I'll give you my side

 

1) Practices were everyday before/after school, either one, not both. Usually Varsity was before and JV after. There was no such thing as a freshman team for us. If you were good enough, you can be on Varsity as a freshman, if not, you're JV. Most varsity swimmers also swim in local clubs, they have daily practices as well...so for some of those people, they get up at 5 in the morning, swam club for 2 hours and swim at school for another 2...I didn't do that though, not dedicated enough to the sport.

 

2) HS meets are usually one every 1-2 months. School invitational, city championships, etc. Then there are regionals and nationals coming in the spring. Varsity compete more than JV just because they are better. Clubs host meets just as frequently. They can be held at different schools or the swimmer's own school depending on the meet and who is hosting it. Nationals are usually held away at a university swim center, maybe at the state capital.

 

3) Yes, boys and girls are together. It's a co-ed sport, but obviously boys and girls compete separately.

 

4) We had about 2 hours of pool time per day (Friday's were shorter), and twice a week we'd be in the weight room or track in the mornings, after that we'd still swim, but not as long.

Edited December 23, 2009 by Yang Bang

[Guest kayden]

I have to go through the replies more thoroughly, but now that I've quickly scanned them I'm going to say that the general consensus is that these details may vary from school to school, (and possibly may be different depending on how far back the past it was...).

[Camilo]

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

High school swimming! I'm a swimmer and gay too! What do you need help with? Is it the hot underwater sex? Is it? Oh tell me it is!!!!

[Y_B]

I have to go through the replies more thoroughly, but now that I've quickly scanned them I'm going to say that the general consensus is that these details may vary from school to school, (and possibly may be different depending on how far back the past it was...). I guess it's safe to say that it's not a requirement for me to change anything in the story so far, but that I can still tailor future events to be more in keeping with the "average" type of high school swim team. I did notice a couple people saying "no freshmen swim team", does that mean that most people waited until their junior year or that freshmen just usually ended up on the JV team? Thanks for all the input so far!

 

 

No, usually varsity and JV spots are allocated by skill not age. A freshman can be on Varsity if he is good enough and a senior can still be on JV. There simply aren't enough swimmers in school for 3 different teams. It's not that popular of a sport, unfortunately.

 

Practices and schedules vary from school to school, but meets are unanimously structured within the state.

 

Depending on how good you wanna make your swimmer boy, you might wanna know about club swimming outside high school since most "good" HS swimmers also swim club...or maybe I should say, usually only club swimmers are good enough to make Varsity depending on the competitiveness of the school district. It should be year round with summer being a good practice time.

 

 

[Guest kayden]

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

High school swimming! I'm a swimmer and gay too! What do you need help with? Is it the hot underwater sex? Is it? Oh tell me it is!!!!

 

Not sure there'll be much underwater sex in my story, (or much sex at all, unfortunately for my main character...).

[Linxe Termoil]

I wanna do the highschool swim team... Ehr..I mean...be on...bah, screw it. Anyways, that's one of those things I wish I'd done. I did, however, my senior year, take two full semesters of gym classes that involved swimming, one was to improve my swimming skills, even though i knew how to swim, and the other was for lifeguard training.

 

:2thumb: