Most people probably assume that a coach would rather die than see a single athlete give up the sport that he or she coaches. Not true. There’s a natural lifespan to most athletic careers. Of course some have a very long lifespan. Take U.S. swimmer Yoshi Oyakawa, the 1952 Olympic gold medalist in the 100-meter backstroke. Just this past March, after aging up to the 75-79 age group, he swam the 50-yard backstroke in 33.37 seconds. If I didn’t have such good self esteem, hearing that would make me want to quit swimming and take up golf. He’s unbelievable.
A more normal competitive lifespan sees athletes through age-group, then high school and maybe even college and beyond with the competitions. But not always. Sometimes the lifespan is shorter, but you always hope that the primary reason someone decides to move on from a particular sport is because they found something else that excited them more in life. Take our daughter, for example. Blessed with equal dollops of talent for swimming and ballet, we knew she’d eventually have to make a choice as to which one she’d pursue. Little Miss Coach was a very good backstroker as a youngster. After one particularly good meet, when she sliced her way down a 50-meter pool into the 10-and-under national rankings that year, I said to her, “Holy cow, honey, what did you do different this time that it looked so fast?” She grinned and said, “I did it to the Radetzky March.”
That’s when we realized her days in swimming were numbered. (Even better was when I told one of her ballet teachers about her humming Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March to herself during that race, and he replied, “Well, yes, of course. She was harnessing her creative energy to resolve the challenge she had been presented with.” Seriously, that is exactly what he said. When she complains now about some of the fluffernutters teaching and directing her, I just hum the Radetzky March.)
Sometimes college athletes take a break, maybe for studies abroad or to act in a university play. Sometimes they return to swimming, but often they simply move on. Fortunately, though, they move on with happy memories of their time in the sport. And they probably still get in the pool every now and then.
What you don’t want to see are the kids who give it up because they burned out and now hate the sport. Usually when you encounter athletes like that, there’s a rabid adult right behind them – either a parent or a coach -- who made them feel like a failure for not achieving specific goals. And it’s not just limited to swimming either. We’ve seen this kind of self-loathing, adult-induced burnout in all kinds of sports, ballet and music. You want to take all the fun and future out of an activity for kids? Saddle them with adults’ ambitions on their way to those finish lines or curtain calls.
But if you want them to enjoy the journey, then step back and be amazed as they move on.
Showing posts with label Yoshi Oyakawa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yoshi Oyakawa. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
25 Random Things I Have Learned about Swimming
1. I’m pretty sure the reason I don’t need to use whitening tooth paste is because of the chemicals in the pool water.
2. I’m pretty sure the reason why Mr. Coach’s Max VO2 has dropped is because of the chemicals in the pool air.
3. A tough track workout makes you feel jack-hammered. A tough swimming workout makes you feel steam-rollered.
4. The lack of gravity-based pounding gives swimmers an undue sense of immortality.
5. There are more nerds and flakes per capita in swimming than in any other sport.
6. If you learn how to do the butterfly at a young age, it’s like riding a bike – you’ll never forget how. If you try to learn as an adult, it’ll be paint-by-numbers at best.
7. All the rule changes in breaststroke technique need to stop until I can do it.
8. Humming in order to learn how to not snork up water during a flip turn is an urban myth.
9. The wiggle-butt off the wall is the funnest thing about swimming.
10. Swimmers are more comfortable with nudity than they perhaps should be.
11. Being able to figure out splits in your head does not translate into marketable math skills.
12. You can’t completely zone out during a swim workout because then you lose track of where you are.
13. The day after doing yoga, you definitely take fewer strokes per lap.
14. Men cannot resist the urge to try and keep up with a woman.
15. A new swimsuit takes 10 years off how old you feel.
16. Yoshi is a freak of nature but we all respect and admire him for it because he clearly isn’t one of those "get a life" masters.
17. All 8-year-olds will tell you they’re going to the Olympics.
18. When their parents tell you the same thing, then you know the kid will be done with swimming by age 13.
19. Boys’ 8-and-under butterfly is comedy gold.
20. The best swim parents don’t know what their kids’ PRs are.
21. Some of the best swim parents are Australian: They won’t even cheer for their own kids in public because of TPS (Tall Poppy Syndrome: "tall poppies are made to be cut down").
22. Swimming will never get as much media attention (or the kind of media attention) it thinks it deserves.
23. But swim meets would definitely be more interesting for the inexperienced spectator if it borrowed some ideas from ice hockey – specifically, enforcers and relay power plays.
24. Swimmers who studied dance or the martial arts as kids generally take corrections better than those who didn’t.
25. It never gets easier to get in.
2. I’m pretty sure the reason why Mr. Coach’s Max VO2 has dropped is because of the chemicals in the pool air.
3. A tough track workout makes you feel jack-hammered. A tough swimming workout makes you feel steam-rollered.
4. The lack of gravity-based pounding gives swimmers an undue sense of immortality.
5. There are more nerds and flakes per capita in swimming than in any other sport.
6. If you learn how to do the butterfly at a young age, it’s like riding a bike – you’ll never forget how. If you try to learn as an adult, it’ll be paint-by-numbers at best.
7. All the rule changes in breaststroke technique need to stop until I can do it.
8. Humming in order to learn how to not snork up water during a flip turn is an urban myth.
9. The wiggle-butt off the wall is the funnest thing about swimming.
10. Swimmers are more comfortable with nudity than they perhaps should be.
11. Being able to figure out splits in your head does not translate into marketable math skills.
12. You can’t completely zone out during a swim workout because then you lose track of where you are.
13. The day after doing yoga, you definitely take fewer strokes per lap.
14. Men cannot resist the urge to try and keep up with a woman.
15. A new swimsuit takes 10 years off how old you feel.
16. Yoshi is a freak of nature but we all respect and admire him for it because he clearly isn’t one of those "get a life" masters.
17. All 8-year-olds will tell you they’re going to the Olympics.
18. When their parents tell you the same thing, then you know the kid will be done with swimming by age 13.
19. Boys’ 8-and-under butterfly is comedy gold.
20. The best swim parents don’t know what their kids’ PRs are.
21. Some of the best swim parents are Australian: They won’t even cheer for their own kids in public because of TPS (Tall Poppy Syndrome: "tall poppies are made to be cut down").
22. Swimming will never get as much media attention (or the kind of media attention) it thinks it deserves.
23. But swim meets would definitely be more interesting for the inexperienced spectator if it borrowed some ideas from ice hockey – specifically, enforcers and relay power plays.
24. Swimmers who studied dance or the martial arts as kids generally take corrections better than those who didn’t.
25. It never gets easier to get in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)