44 reasons to date a swimmer:

44 reasons to date a swimmer:

1) We're always wet and half naked
2) We're able to do it on our backs or our tummys
3) We're always ready at the sound of a buzzer
4) We can do it fast or slow
5) We can do it 4 different ways
6) We love the water
7) We can do it in the cold or in the rain
8) We're just so dang hot
9) We are always clean
10) We are totally comfortable saying "ill show you my breast if you show me your fly"
11) Bathing suits...need I say more
12) It won’t take that long to get us undressed (coz we hardly wear anything)
13) We are always ready at the sound of a buzzer.
14) We are always in shape (coz we swim all year round)
15) We WILL last the longest
16) We know several different paces
17) We like it wet- we are always wet and half naked.
18) We will never hesitate to get on our backs
19) We are good with our hips
20) We never have any extra "baggage" in places where there isn’t supposed to be any
21) Not only do we put on latex fast and easily, but we go through enough of it in one year to cover our wallpaper with it.
22) We can do it in the cold or in the rain.
23) We also aren’t always looking to "score" like all other athletes
24) We don’t "play games"
25) We go in hard, pull out fast, and come out wet
26) we dive in head first
27) Why would we want to play with balls???
28) We find it normal to jam a piece of Styrofoam between our legs
29) We don’t like to wear pants
30) We can hold our breath for long periods of time
31) We are so used to seeing people without clothes on
32) Our daily apparel is held together by knots and is usually torn and see-through
33) We are determined, strong, math smart, and tough
34) We find it perfectly normal to talk to people without clothes on
35) We can be really independent, so we won’t be clingy
36) We always put in a hard thrust at the very end
37) We can stroke it in 4 different ways
38) Eye protection is sometimes necessary
39) 6am-6pm we're ready anytime
40) We can perform well anywhere
41) We don't mind it when it gets a little rough
42) We’re ready to go on command
43) Corkscrew's our favorite drill.
44) we like latex on our heads


********************

"There is nothing like the smell of chlorine in the morning, and nothing like the smell of victory in the evening."

"Swimming is more than a sport of the individual. It is the challenge of character, the strength of spirit, and the hope of the future."

"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice in your head that yells 'CAN'T', but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear that voice whisper, "can" and you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are." -Larry Rick Garcia

Swimming is a sport, everything else is just a game.

"Chlorine is my perfume." ~Author Unknown

"Before the (Olympic) trials I was doing a lot of relaxing exercises and visualization. And I think that that helped me to get a feel of what it was gonna be like when I got there. I knew that I had done everything that I could to get ready for that meet, both physically and mentally".
-Michael Phelps

Swim each practice as if it was the most important practice of the year.

"If you ain't making waves, you ain't kicking hard enough!"

"Swimming is 50% talent, and 50% heart"

10% physical, 90% mental

"My element is water. My weapon is my body. My world is swimming."

Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck -- but, most of all, endurance.

“Pain is temporary - Pride is forever.”


********************

People dont swim because its fun. Ask any swimmer, most of them hate it, but they couldnt imagine their life with out it. Its part of them, its something they live for. They live for the 5 a.m practices, pasta partys, cheers, long bus rides, invitationals, countless swim caps, chlorine, and coaches you hate but appreciate later. They live for the way it feels when you beat the person next to you by a tenth of a second and you know those 2 extra laps you did in practice were worth it. You live for the way you jump every time you hear a buzzer, or the way you scream whenever you hear the gun on the 500, even though you hear it every time. You live for the way you celebrate when you get to do a set with fins. You live for the way you become a family with your team, and no one understands what happens within that pool or locker room, but you. You live for the countless songs you sing in your head when your swimming those laps. You live for the people who scream at you while your swimming even though all you hear is BLAH BLAH BLAH. You live for the competition, you live for the friends, you live for the practice, you live for the pain, its a part of you. You are a swimmer.

It's the feeling you get at the end of a hard practice, when you've pushed ur self to the limits, and it's the way the water feels when get back in after time off, it's knowing that you don't have to shave for months at a time, and thinking of 7:00 am practice as sleeping in. It's muscle cramps, swimmers ear, and 11 practices a week. It's when your coach knows you better than your father, and your teammates are your brothers and sisters. It's seeing everyone else cheer you on during a race, and knowing your team is behind you. It's borrowing caps and sharing shampoo, going through whole boxes of ceral in one day, and blowing the fuse in the locker room four times because everyone has to get ready after morning practice. It's hearing people at school say "It's must be a swimmer thing," and always having the best parking spot because you are the first one at the school every morning. It's a collection of T-shirts and ribbons, and not really being able to put into words how the meet went. It's knowin that you got up and did somethin you love, and somethin you hate, and something you can't really explain, and don't really want to understand. It's the way you walk, and the way you talk. It's something that no one else really understands because they haven't felt the felling you get every time you step up on the blocks, that swimming isn't just a sport... it's all the friends and coachs over the years, all the practices and inside jokes, all the memories, all the fun times and all the roadtrips,

because swimming is more than just a sport..."