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Team
Thank you coaches for you help with
another great camp this past weekend.
There is lots of time to get really
race ready for the Quebec Champs at the end of April.
We have 30 women and 26 men committed
with 80 yet to respond for Quebec Champs. Our goal is 100
swimmers!!!!!
Please rsvp your
intent.
The
March 17 Arthur Inglis is a great pre-champs meet in which
to participate.
Please rsvp your intent.
If you are not
swimming... volunteer for timing... because we will need you for
this big Technosport meet.
Mike Heath Eves
has sent me a narrative about his first championship meet
experience.
They Treat You Like Athletes Here
One of the membership recently asked me why do I compete. I
suppose I must have some inbred desire to do well at things or at
least try to improve at things that I do. As your newsletter editor
I thought I would give my impressions of my first masters Nationals
swim competition and try to answer that question.
When I first joined CMSC my lane mates were always very encouraging.
After some weeks we had developed a workout relationship which has
since developed into friendship for it is how a person is swimming
that we get an idea of how they are doing in life. Sport is quite a
window.
As usual, my lane mates were very encouraging about me going to the
National Masters Swim Meet in Winnipeg in 1997. I had only competed
in our local swim meets previously. The Nationals seemed pretty
upscale and naturally I was somewhat apprehensive about attending.
But I took the challenge and sent my application in and the rest
fell into place…….
I am standing behind the starting block in my lane, quite nervous,
when I hear “Go Mike!” and then a tremendous “Yahoo!” as all the
Calgary swimmers gave me a big encouraging cheer. I was astounded…..
Now somewhat nervous but somewhat pumped I got ready to start my
race. “This lane is mine”, I thought. “No one can take it away from
me. I’ll get a time and that will be it”……
The whistle blows and I mount the block….You know they really treat
you like an athlete. Welcoming speeches were made. My gift package
had my name on it. The T-shirt fit and I had all this wonderful
stuff on what a great place Winnipeg is to visit and wouldn’t I love
to come back for another visit……
I take a deep breath, then another…”This lane is mine”….
The starter says “Swimmers, take your mark”. Time to get serious. I
curl my toes over the front of the block and assume the best
starting position I can muster and wait for the starters gun….
I don’t know him but he shook my hand before the race, giggled and
wished me a good luck. I must have looked either very nervous or
like a formidable fellow competitor that he was trying to throw off
his concentration. You know like boxers do before match. I had met a
great number of swimmers from Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver,
Saskatoon, Santa Barbara and many other places. They were certainly
enjoying the meet and all were very friendly and enthusiastic of the
sport. The guy in the next lane was probably like one of them…..
The starter’s gun cracks. I fly through the air for a very short,
too short, distance when the water element envelopes me. I start to
move my arms and legs trying to remember what the coaches had told
me about how to swim this race. The swimming starts. The work
begins…..
After many lengths, it is a 400 meters race, I just happen to glance
over to the edge of the pool where , again, to my astonishment I see
my team mates waving their arms and pointing in the direction to
which I am swimming. Then I see the coach who is giving the
international sign (they treat you like an athlete here) to speed
up. It is hard to do but that guy in the next lane is ahead of me,
just a little and I must make a move if I am going to catch up and
pass . More frenzied waving, more splashing and hard breathing and
more requests from the coach to go faster. I try my hardest. The
final wall approaches and I slam my hand into the timing mat but
only just after the guy in the next lane. Its over….
I rest in my lane relishing the finish and the fact that I had
arrived in one piece. I lean over the lane rope and shake hands to
congratulate the guy in the next lane. It is then I realize the guy
is a mere kid, at least four age groups younger than me. No wonder
he was faster but I had pushed him….And then I thought that this was
not a race against others. It was a race against myself. It was my
lane, my race and my finish time. I was glad to there, glad to be a
competitor and glad to be an athlete.
If you have never raced don’t be intimidated to enter a swim meet.
It will open up a whole new world for you. You will meet new friends
and get to know your club friends even better.
Thank you
Coach Duane Jones
technosport@rogers.com |
