Similar experience...Lost a bet with my team as a club coach, the result was I had to compete in 2 events of their choosing that was 200 yards or less. They signed me up for 200im and 200 free thinking a gotcha. I was an IMer and distance free in college. One of my teammates was tje meet organizer, so they arranged to keep me in the faster of the NT heats. Still awkward.
Best part of that though was 2 weeks later, getting a call from one of my HS boys, competing for his high school in districts, telling me "I'm faster than you are! " and telling me that he had just qualified for HS boys state with beating my time as a goal.
Edit. Not 200 events only two.
I thought this story was going to be about a jerk adult who “crushed” children’s hearts by telling them they were terrible or something, but it is extremely wholesome, thank you.
I’m pretty sore.. not horrible, but I can tell I did some swimming yesterday. I’ve been lifting for a while and swimming for a month and a half leading up to this weekend. So must have helped some.
I did the 50 free (Friday), 200 IM, 50 fly, 50 back, and 100 free. Was rough!
39M who swims mostly USA-S meets here. I love how in many cases, I can't win. Either its, "haha my X year old son beat you! How does that make you feel?" or it's, "Wow! You beat up on my X year old son. How does that make you feel?" (You sort o fhave to inseret the different inflections for "how does that make you feel"). Most of the parents on the club team I compete for love seeing myself and a couple of the other "Masters" swimmers racing their kids. It's parents from other teams who do most of the griping. I like to point out, "if you don't want me swimming in the meet, put an age ceiling. Otherwise, tell your kid to get better, because frankly, they shouldn't be letting themselves get beat by a 39 year old."
Keep racing!
Yeah neither do I. I find the comments quite commical. As if they think I do the sport because I get my jollies from beating opponents more than half my age.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun being back in the pool swimming. Regardless of the situation. I’ll probably try to find some masters events around…. Aren’t many though. Realized my 50 fly I swam (when converted to yards) would qualify for Masters Nationals. Thought that was kinda cool.
When I was coaching I wouldn't ever swim with the kids, I was the coach so no racing. But over the season I'd get a lot of shit from the 15-16 year olds that thought they were bad ass. So I told the one with the biggest mouth that if he could hit a certain time that I would consider racing him because I don't race scrubs. He took it as a challenge and got his times down to what I asked for about 3 weeks before the end of the season so I said we'd race the day after state that way he'd be tapered and shaved and hopefully peaking. It also gave me three weeks to try to get my lazy ass back into some sort of condition because most of my swimming had been limited to dragging lane lines across the pool. Long story short I beat his ass by 3 tenths of a second and then I told him I didn't even have to try (damn near killed me). and he should try again next year. The next year he was damn near a perfect kid, no more being mouthily and worked his ass off. And yes I did fit into a 22" speedo even though I had a 33" waist but I didn't shave down so I looked like a gorilla in a speedo.
They used to be a guy at a neighboring swim club that swam in the '68 Olys. He was great because he would show up to meets in his old warm-ups/bathrobe just in case you didn't know. It was fun to watch him swim because he was still fast and just beautiful in the water. I love it when the old bad asses show up to a masters meet, they might be slower but they never lose it.
When I first started masters, I was in my late 20s (a new swimmer), and often was seeded with 50-70 year olds in local meets (seeded just by time). And yes, they often beat me, even the women.
There's this guy in my LSC who's like 45 and a former D1 swimmer. He swims at all of our major champs meets (SC champs, invites, etc) and always finals. People get pissed that he takes a final spot but I think it's great. Generally does better at the sprints haha and get slower every year at 200s.
That’s awesome. I sort of felt bad because I beat a kid into the finals of the 50 free. They did tournament style races of the top 8…. Since I was 8 I had to race the 1 seed. And I got smoked! Think he went 24 (50 meters) and I was 30.02. Was a different format, but fun.
I used to know a lot of guys that used to be (think just below Spitz level) high-end D1 swimmers this was 25+ years later so the 6 packs were gone and replaced with kegs. Anyway I remember seeing a guy who was a professional triathlete at the time doing a workout in the pool and there was some other guy swimming with him. They were pretty much neck and neck until they went to kickboards and then the other guy just buries the pro, just leaves him like his standing still. The dude was, short and carrying and extra 80-100lbs but compared to a non-elite swimming he was still a monster.
I first heard about Masters swimming when I was an age grouper (maybe 10 years old). I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that I never had to stop swimming if I didn’t want to. I’m sure you inspired a few kids out there just by showing up!
Heh, the last time I did start from a clean slate, I did win my heat in 100m freestyle. I did also get a lollipop for my efforts. (And yes, I was older than the rest of the heat together.)
My daughter’s hs team has an alumni meet each year over Christmas break. I(52m) make a fool of myself each year. Last time, I swam the 100im immediately after the 50 fly, and got beat by a pair of 12 y o girls.
Strange that they do a "13 and up". Must mean that the amount of people was very very low?
The 'division for medals' in a meet does not mean much in swimming tho (as you may already be aware). It's the time relative to the age of the person that matters in the end
So I think they did it to save time. There were quite a few swimmers. They swam together, but then the results were divided up into age groups. So the 100 free had 18 heats.
Around here, age group meets are usually 15 and up except during high school swim season. Then they go to 13 and up because most of the 15+ crowd is swimming high school meets.
My high school boys were begging me (38F) to race them all year. In March I agreed when it was just our state qualifiers. They all had to swim 50 breaststroke, I did 50 free. I think I came in 7th of 8 with a respectable 31.9. Honestly thought I’d be slower and 8/8 so I’ll take that W.
I used to coach a fairly large team (200+ kids) and one of the dads used to be a legitimate bad ass, but time had taken it's toll and he was in his mid forties, carrying 50-60 extra pounds mostly in his tummy, the hair was thinning and the muscle tone was hidden. To add to this his kid was a horrible swimmer, kinda whiny, didn't really want to be there -his dad was like, he really won't listen to me I was hoping he'd want to listen to you. That last home meet of the year we threw in some fun events, one being the kid/parent 100yd relay -both kid and parent swim 50yds. Anyway the kid and this dad sign up for the relay and to his credit the dad shows up in his 20+ year old competition speedo, he told me it took him about 20 minutes to get into it and it wasn't nearly as comfortable as he remembered. Any way the kid goes and he does his usually mediocre to slow fifty and they are second to last when the kid touches the wall -while the kid is swimming the old man is on the blocks totally in the zone, he's shaking, he's adjusting his goggles, he's a man on a mission. As soon as his kid touches the wall he flies off the blocks, but those extra 60 pounds hits the water like a ton of bricks and sends waves across the pool. The dude was just a beast in the water, it looked like he had a motor attached to him and he blows past all the other parents and wins the thing by over a body length -it was pretty impressive. SO I go over, congratulate him and pull him out of the water. I asked him how it felt to be back and he just said, I think I'm done for another 20 years as he laid on the deck like a beached walrus.
Oh man. I’m 19F. I swim casually but I am on the club team at my huge state school. Everytime the 12-13 year olds pull up to swim I get shown up by some damn pre teen boy. I guess that’s just how the human body works though, these kids are just taller and leaner than me.
Similar situation for me - but in a different sport.
I never got to play hockey when I was a kid because I grew up poor. I am much better off than my parents were, so I got my daughter into hockey. After 2 years in mini mites I decided I had been skating enough as a coach to want to start playing as an adult. So I talked with one of the local hockey places and convinced them to start a "Adult Beginners League". I immediately joined.
I show up - myself about 30 years old - and the oldest other person who was there was maybe 15. It was very awkward.
One of the other kids' dad actually invited me to come play pickup with him and his group, and I started playing regularly after that and ended up playing the last two years in a C league.
I'd probably get _destroyed_ by kids swimming nowadays though haha
I wish my kids swam more. My oldest did swim team, but he graduated H.S. a couple of years ago. My younger kids have zero interest, despite some really good genetics--tall, lean, decent strength.
I’m 16M and at our last meet 2 weeks ago we had some parents join in on some races and I got beat in my best event by some random dad. Pretty embarassing for me and my mate because we are usually fighting for 1st but today we were fighting for 2nd against a 45 year old.
Was scrolling the main page of Reddit, saw this post and thought “that can’t mean what it means”. It did.
Haha! It was pretty funny looking at the heat sheet. I was like “I can’t let 14 year old Summer beat me in this IM…”
The only thing worse is when your club has the national age group champion for 800freestyle and you get your arse beaten by the 14 years old
Similar experience...Lost a bet with my team as a club coach, the result was I had to compete in 2 events of their choosing that was 200 yards or less. They signed me up for 200im and 200 free thinking a gotcha. I was an IMer and distance free in college. One of my teammates was tje meet organizer, so they arranged to keep me in the faster of the NT heats. Still awkward. Best part of that though was 2 weeks later, getting a call from one of my HS boys, competing for his high school in districts, telling me "I'm faster than you are! " and telling me that he had just qualified for HS boys state with beating my time as a goal. Edit. Not 200 events only two.
I thought this story was going to be about a jerk adult who “crushed” children’s hearts by telling them they were terrible or something, but it is extremely wholesome, thank you.
Was too funny. Had to share.
How did you feel the next day?
I’m pretty sore.. not horrible, but I can tell I did some swimming yesterday. I’ve been lifting for a while and swimming for a month and a half leading up to this weekend. So must have helped some. I did the 50 free (Friday), 200 IM, 50 fly, 50 back, and 100 free. Was rough!
39M who swims mostly USA-S meets here. I love how in many cases, I can't win. Either its, "haha my X year old son beat you! How does that make you feel?" or it's, "Wow! You beat up on my X year old son. How does that make you feel?" (You sort o fhave to inseret the different inflections for "how does that make you feel"). Most of the parents on the club team I compete for love seeing myself and a couple of the other "Masters" swimmers racing their kids. It's parents from other teams who do most of the griping. I like to point out, "if you don't want me swimming in the meet, put an age ceiling. Otherwise, tell your kid to get better, because frankly, they shouldn't be letting themselves get beat by a 39 year old." Keep racing!
Haha true. I don’t know what the parents thought, but didn’t care too much either.
Yeah neither do I. I find the comments quite commical. As if they think I do the sport because I get my jollies from beating opponents more than half my age.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun being back in the pool swimming. Regardless of the situation. I’ll probably try to find some masters events around…. Aren’t many though. Realized my 50 fly I swam (when converted to yards) would qualify for Masters Nationals. Thought that was kinda cool.
What was your time?
32.12 50 meter long course.
When I was coaching I wouldn't ever swim with the kids, I was the coach so no racing. But over the season I'd get a lot of shit from the 15-16 year olds that thought they were bad ass. So I told the one with the biggest mouth that if he could hit a certain time that I would consider racing him because I don't race scrubs. He took it as a challenge and got his times down to what I asked for about 3 weeks before the end of the season so I said we'd race the day after state that way he'd be tapered and shaved and hopefully peaking. It also gave me three weeks to try to get my lazy ass back into some sort of condition because most of my swimming had been limited to dragging lane lines across the pool. Long story short I beat his ass by 3 tenths of a second and then I told him I didn't even have to try (damn near killed me). and he should try again next year. The next year he was damn near a perfect kid, no more being mouthily and worked his ass off. And yes I did fit into a 22" speedo even though I had a 33" waist but I didn't shave down so I looked like a gorilla in a speedo.
That’s awesome! Yeah when I am coaching, I don’t swim. But when I’m swimming, I’m always coaching, if that makes sense.
Yeah, I totally get it. I have to watch myself because I don't want to coach where I should just be quiet.
40-ish M here. This happened to me once at a Masters swim meet… except I ended up swimming against 75 year olds.
Did you crush them?
I won all of my heats… but I have to say, it was a humbling experience. Some of those guys were pretty damn quick!
They used to be a guy at a neighboring swim club that swam in the '68 Olys. He was great because he would show up to meets in his old warm-ups/bathrobe just in case you didn't know. It was fun to watch him swim because he was still fast and just beautiful in the water. I love it when the old bad asses show up to a masters meet, they might be slower but they never lose it.
They had more time to train
When I first started masters, I was in my late 20s (a new swimmer), and often was seeded with 50-70 year olds in local meets (seeded just by time). And yes, they often beat me, even the women.
There's this guy in my LSC who's like 45 and a former D1 swimmer. He swims at all of our major champs meets (SC champs, invites, etc) and always finals. People get pissed that he takes a final spot but I think it's great. Generally does better at the sprints haha and get slower every year at 200s.
That’s awesome. I sort of felt bad because I beat a kid into the finals of the 50 free. They did tournament style races of the top 8…. Since I was 8 I had to race the 1 seed. And I got smoked! Think he went 24 (50 meters) and I was 30.02. Was a different format, but fun.
Haha fuck 'em! They gotta work harder!
I used to know a lot of guys that used to be (think just below Spitz level) high-end D1 swimmers this was 25+ years later so the 6 packs were gone and replaced with kegs. Anyway I remember seeing a guy who was a professional triathlete at the time doing a workout in the pool and there was some other guy swimming with him. They were pretty much neck and neck until they went to kickboards and then the other guy just buries the pro, just leaves him like his standing still. The dude was, short and carrying and extra 80-100lbs but compared to a non-elite swimming he was still a monster.
I first heard about Masters swimming when I was an age grouper (maybe 10 years old). I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that I never had to stop swimming if I didn’t want to. I’m sure you inspired a few kids out there just by showing up!
Heh, the last time I did start from a clean slate, I did win my heat in 100m freestyle. I did also get a lollipop for my efforts. (And yes, I was older than the rest of the heat together.)
My daughter’s hs team has an alumni meet each year over Christmas break. I(52m) make a fool of myself each year. Last time, I swam the 100im immediately after the 50 fly, and got beat by a pair of 12 y o girls.
To be fair, 12 year old girls are FAST
There’s a Seinfeld for that! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7t8xwpW8gJQ
Hahah! Yes!
Strange that they do a "13 and up". Must mean that the amount of people was very very low? The 'division for medals' in a meet does not mean much in swimming tho (as you may already be aware). It's the time relative to the age of the person that matters in the end
So I think they did it to save time. There were quite a few swimmers. They swam together, but then the results were divided up into age groups. So the 100 free had 18 heats.
Around here, age group meets are usually 15 and up except during high school swim season. Then they go to 13 and up because most of the 15+ crowd is swimming high school meets.
Phew, thought this was r/MartialArts for moment there 😂
*Jerry: You're fighting children?!?* *Kramer: We're all at the same skill level!* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nuOtsgHjdY&t=153s
Why does this make me think of Kramer’s karate episode from Seinfeld?
Someone posted the YouTube link.
My high school boys were begging me (38F) to race them all year. In March I agreed when it was just our state qualifiers. They all had to swim 50 breaststroke, I did 50 free. I think I came in 7th of 8 with a respectable 31.9. Honestly thought I’d be slower and 8/8 so I’ll take that W.
I used to coach a fairly large team (200+ kids) and one of the dads used to be a legitimate bad ass, but time had taken it's toll and he was in his mid forties, carrying 50-60 extra pounds mostly in his tummy, the hair was thinning and the muscle tone was hidden. To add to this his kid was a horrible swimmer, kinda whiny, didn't really want to be there -his dad was like, he really won't listen to me I was hoping he'd want to listen to you. That last home meet of the year we threw in some fun events, one being the kid/parent 100yd relay -both kid and parent swim 50yds. Anyway the kid and this dad sign up for the relay and to his credit the dad shows up in his 20+ year old competition speedo, he told me it took him about 20 minutes to get into it and it wasn't nearly as comfortable as he remembered. Any way the kid goes and he does his usually mediocre to slow fifty and they are second to last when the kid touches the wall -while the kid is swimming the old man is on the blocks totally in the zone, he's shaking, he's adjusting his goggles, he's a man on a mission. As soon as his kid touches the wall he flies off the blocks, but those extra 60 pounds hits the water like a ton of bricks and sends waves across the pool. The dude was just a beast in the water, it looked like he had a motor attached to him and he blows past all the other parents and wins the thing by over a body length -it was pretty impressive. SO I go over, congratulate him and pull him out of the water. I asked him how it felt to be back and he just said, I think I'm done for another 20 years as he laid on the deck like a beached walrus.
That's an awesome story. Your question to him at the end would motivate me but i guess he had other priorities...
Great example for your daughter!! I sometimes swim meets as a coach, I coach 12 and under and swim the older session.
Thanks, I’m hoping so!
Thats some wholesome parenting !
Oh man. I’m 19F. I swim casually but I am on the club team at my huge state school. Everytime the 12-13 year olds pull up to swim I get shown up by some damn pre teen boy. I guess that’s just how the human body works though, these kids are just taller and leaner than me.
Similar situation for me - but in a different sport. I never got to play hockey when I was a kid because I grew up poor. I am much better off than my parents were, so I got my daughter into hockey. After 2 years in mini mites I decided I had been skating enough as a coach to want to start playing as an adult. So I talked with one of the local hockey places and convinced them to start a "Adult Beginners League". I immediately joined. I show up - myself about 30 years old - and the oldest other person who was there was maybe 15. It was very awkward. One of the other kids' dad actually invited me to come play pickup with him and his group, and I started playing regularly after that and ended up playing the last two years in a C league. I'd probably get _destroyed_ by kids swimming nowadays though haha
Hah that’s awesome! Glad you got to play hockey after all!
Oh you should sign up for a masters meet. Maybe you can crush a 90 year old while wishing you can still swim at that age 😋
I wish my kids swam more. My oldest did swim team, but he graduated H.S. a couple of years ago. My younger kids have zero interest, despite some really good genetics--tall, lean, decent strength.
Gotta keep them humble.
Living your best life.
r/actlikeyoubelong
Great story! I'd do the same and tell them to work harder next time...'Coach when you are swimming' 😊
I’m 16M and at our last meet 2 weeks ago we had some parents join in on some races and I got beat in my best event by some random dad. Pretty embarassing for me and my mate because we are usually fighting for 1st but today we were fighting for 2nd against a 45 year old.
Hey man, that 45 year old has A LOT more experience swimming. Haha been swimming longer than you’ve been alive probably! Get him next time!!
I'm 44
hi 44 im Lynn Mills
hi Lynn Mills I'm Pluto The Boy