What It Feels Like for A European to Dive Into American Swimming

Photo Courtesy: Cumberlands

By Charlotte Parent, Swimming World Contributor

A lot of swimmers from Europe do not have the opportunity to combine both swimming and college in their native countries, therefore they decide to fly across the ocean and take a chance with an American college.

The experience can be overwhelming for most of them because of the language barrier and the new environment they are thrown into. But the biggest change, both physically and emotionally, is to dive for the first time into an American pool.

As most people know Europeans only swim in short course and long course meter pools. Swimming in a 25-yard pool for the first time leaves you with really bizarre feelings; it seems you have acquired wings because your times are extremely fast but at the same time your marks are off. Your strokes and turns do not seem to be on point. These physical and/or technical details can be fixed really quickly and with ease, but the biggest challenge about diving into American swimming happens on an emotional level. Most European swimmers coming to America are part of small club teams and the adjustment to a massive and equally talented team is a hard pill to swallow.

Of course, it is not always the case because some very talented European swimmers pack their bags and come swim for the top American colleges. Coming in and having to adapt to a different type of coaching, and having to deal with rivalry inside a team can be hard to handle. Some of these swimmers have never been part of a team; they don’t know how to interact with teammates.

What the advertisement about swimming for a college team doesn’t tell you is that you are more than just a swimmer to your teammates, your coaching staff, and your school. You matter and you are of as much value as the world champion beside you. Your team is your family and for four years they will support you through tears and smiles– it can be overwhelming to someone that has never been a part of it. It can be a positive and negative experience depending on the swimmer’s personality.

Europeans do not realize the impact the team can have on your achievement and your performance. I had the chance to witness people moving mountains for their team and pushing themselves for the good of the team. Something I am certain I would never see in Europe (at least on a collegiate level).

Some Europeans only stay for a year because they just don’t seem to fit in while others stay through their entire college career because the American system has shown them that there is more to swimming than just counting the squares on the bottom of the pool.

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Swim23

8 years ago

Good article!