Top Five Reasons to Try a New Event

If you’re like me, the joy of swimming reaches its exquisite peak when you’re deeply engaged in swimming 20 x 200s of butterfly with 5 seconds rest—when you’re so laser focused on the effort that you see nothing but the pace clock and feel nothing but the sweet torture of anguished lungs and depleted muscles. You feel fulfilled only when you know that your lovingly sadistic coach has devised an infinite quantity of equally arduous work to follow the end of every diabolical set.

Yep, a swimmer’s life is the best! But while you may savor long sets, raccoon goggle marks, and those weird wrinkly fingerprints that come from prolonged immersion, I’m going to suggest that there are other things to enjoy about the sport, as well.

Options?

Most of your time in the water is spent swimming laps. That’s what enhances your physical health, builds your strength, and teaches you technique. You also benefit from the social aspects of sharing the experience with teammates and friends, not to mention getting to laugh at the ridiculous things your coach says (“20 x 200s butterfly”, for example.) But what else is there besides those practice sessions?

Lots of stuff!

• Swim meets (local, state, regional, national, and international championships)
• Social events
• Open water events
• Fitness challenges
• Stroke clinics
• Coach certification or officials certification training
• Volunteer service events (meetings, conventions, community outreach, etc.)

Here are the top five things you’ll love about participating in USMS events beyond standard workouts.

5. Learn something new!

Keeping your brain active is a key part of aging well. Learning new skills, resetting attitudes, shaking up routines, and challenging yourself to leave your comfort zone are all elements that contribute to robust mental and physical health, as well as making life more fun. Whether it’s competing in a stroke or distance you haven’t tried before, taking on a new role in the swimming community, or traveling to a new destination, expanding your horizons increases your capability and creates new connections that will help you thrive throughout your life.

4. Get feedback

Regular workouts teach you how well you perform in, well, regular workouts. To find the true boundaries of your capability, you must challenge yourself to a meet or fitness event that pushes you to find your limits. When you ramp up the effort to that next level, it will reveal frailties in your form, weak spots in your fitness, problems with pacing, and gaps in your mental preparation. You can use these revelations to incorporate new training methods to address them.

USMS stroke improvement clinics can also reveal areas for improvement. Having a new set of expert eyes examine your technique can provide insights that result in performance breakthroughs. No matter what level of skill you achieve, there will always be opportunities to get even better, but you’ll never know what those are if you keep repeating the same routine.

3. Become an observer

Swim meets provide opportunities to watch elite swimmers and learn from them. Almost every race provides lessons on technique, pacing, or race strategy. Your own results provide feedback about the effectiveness of your warmup, nutrition and hydration, and other race planning.

Plus, it’s fun and inspirational to watch people who really know how to move through the water. You may not understand or be able to duplicate exactly what they do, but the more you observe and appreciate great swimmers, the more you’ll move yourself toward aquatic excellence.

2. Absorb inspiration

Everyone who attends any Masters event comes away inspired and feeling good about life. You see folks of all ages supporting each other, encouraging the pursuit of health and fitness, and championing a love for the water. You’ll come away with new ideas for ways to challenge and improve yourself, new goals to motivate you, and new role models to lead you toward achievements that fill you with pride.

While simply reviewing the USMS event calendar opens your mind to experiences you may have thought beyond your reach, actually attending an event exposes you to others like yourself who have made a commitment to enhance their lives with life-affirming experiences. Whether it’s pushing yourself beyond previous limits, engaging in a community-building activity, or just having a blast with people who love swimming, participation in such events fuels a never-ending desire to live a purpose and meaning.

1. Make connections

Most of my best friends have been found through swimming. Obviously, teammates form the closest connections because they are in the trenches together, sharing the hard work and camaraderie found in practice. But the connections we make through working together, competing, and building a community are no less enduring. I may not see some of these dear friends all that regularly, but the connection remains just as strong when we reunite at an open water swim, a championship meet, or at a USMS convention. And we always have something interesting to talk about!

Whether it’s an age-group rival, a teammate from decades past, a coach I admire, or a volunteer whose mentorship has provided guidance, there’s always warmth and delight in connecting with other swimmers. And I’d never have developed these lifelong friendships without participation in the many USMS events that have added so much breadth and depth to the richness of my life.

I urge you to stretch your boundaries and try some of the possibilities. This list of benefits is not comprehensive; there are countless additional reasons to participate in USMS events. I look forward to hearing how one of these swimming events changed your life—I’ll see you at the pool!