Enduring the Unpredictable Elements of the Summer Season

Photo Courtesy: Annie Grevers

By Alan Karickhoff, Swimming World College Intern

With rising temperatures and students answering the last questions on their final exams, thousands of U.S. swimmers transition to their summer schedule, a schedule that includes staring down a 50-meter pool. It is a transition from the conventional winter programs that guide swimmers up and down a 25-yard pool.

Some swimmers might also make a transition from a humid, chlorine-saturated indoor pool facility to an outdoor facility exposed to the elements. College training trips from the northern states often give a welcomed sneak peak into the summer transition.

Despite an end to the school year, many practices still run in the early mornings with another practice in the evenings. When I was a young swimmer in Northeast Ohio I swam my mornings outside, rain or shine. They were mostly chilly mornings, barely topping 65 degrees fahrenheit.

I tended to stand at the edge of the pool with friends, minutes after the start of practice, hoping the heaters worked hard overnight. The coaches stood on deck, bundled in jackets and sweatshirts, laughing as we debated how to enter the chilling pool for warm up. Between sets and longer intervals, I was often balled up around the hot water jets to thaw out my fingers and toes.

Only on the warm mornings, did I embrace the rain. The workout flushed my face, while the rain were icicles on my back. The coaches only liked the rain after a couple hours of searing sun. The rain brought 5 a.m. calls about the cancellation of an 8 a.m. practice with a friendly response, “Not cancelled unless it storms.”

Then, when practice came around the swimmer of the parent who called would be nowhere to be found despite the lack of storms. The rain also brought crying children clinging, frozen, to the wall. Finally, after a practice with a quarter of the team members, the coaches climb into their cars, drenched, as if they were the ones swimming that day.

The southern states that allow year-round outdoor swimming offer a different perspective of the summer season. There is a constant battle with the rain, but the cool temperatures are less frequent. With temperatures regularly notching over 90 degrees in the summer months, jumping in the pool seems necessary.

A team in Central Florida began their summer swimming schedule in June. It was a week with temperatures of low to mid 90s. The Florida storms evaded them, allowing for a full week of practice.

An assistant coach for the team reflects on the week:

We just started long-course swimming. It’s an eight-lane pool and we use three of them, fitting about nine swimmers in each. The swimmers are middle school-aged, between 10 and 12, roughly. The practices are from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. so it’s not the hottest part of the day, but I certainly feel the heat.

What’s it like on deck?

Hot. It’s obvious when you look at the head coach, especially on a day when he wears a grey shirt. To hide from the sun he keeps covered under a big hat, much large than the baseball cap I wear. I wear the same hat every day, a red hat with the stitching of “Dickinson College Swimming” in white letters on the front. No sunscreen, working on my tan. I keep a water bottle on deck too, which I easily finish by the end of practice. I would go through more, but the water fountain is a good couple minute walk from the pool’s edge.

The bathrooms are in the same situation as the water fountains. A kid asks to go to the bathroom and he or she is gone for five minutes. Regardless of what the swimmers are doing in there, they’re gone for at least a couple minutes just from the walk. I haven’t had to check on any yet, but there are some times when they leave and take their time. It’s usually the same ones every day too.

Do you ever get in the pool to escape the sun?

No, I haven’t. The other day I ran with the kids though. Before practice they had a three-mile run around the neighborhood and the head coach thought it might be a good idea if I ran with them. While they jumped in the cool pool following the run, I stood by the puddles that soon evaporated from the shadeless pool deck.

I used to imagine life in Florida, swimming year-round outside, avoiding the snow and ice of Ohio winters. I dreamed of summer mornings that didn’t require a sweatshirt, only to be stripped to a t-shirt by noon. I never thought of the three-mile runs in upper 80 degree weather or the lack of a cool breeze at the end of an enduring set. A transition from Ohio to Florida offers many reliefs, but brings many challenges. I don’t see the reliefs of a transition from a 25-yard pool to a 50-meter pool, but I love seeing the challenges.

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