6 Things to Take Away From a Bad Meet

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Photo Courtesy: Kara Sekenski

By Jacob Riley, Swimming World College Intern.

Alright, so you just came back and had a bad meet. You’re pretty down in the dumps because you didn’t put up the times you wanted to. This is a tough situation that even some of the greatest swimmers in the world fall into. A disappointing performance always hurts, because it makes you feel as if your work wasn’t good enough. Maybe you just feel like something was off.

Whatever the case, there are important things to take away from having a bad meet, or a bad swim in general…

1. A bad meet doesn’t define you as a swimmer.

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Photo Courtesy: Rick Pelletier

One bad meet isn’t the end of the world. Sure you always want to put up best times, and do your absolute best, but this one meet doesn’t define who you are as a swimmer. As my coach says, “In other words, if you are a 51-second 100 flyer and you go a 56, you’re still a 51-second 100 flyer.” The point being, one bad swim/meet doesn’t mean you suck at swimming. It just means something didn’t get it right for you that day. That’s important to consider when trying to improve from a bad meet.

2. Try to think about what specific aspects of your sub-par swims you can work on.

This is probably one of the more important things to think about after a bad meet. What part of your swims can you improve on? Where did the specific swim go wrong? Was it due to weak underwaters? Bad breakouts? Whatever the case is, make sure to figure out what went wrong with your swim in order to work on that in practice in the coming days so you don’t make the same mistakes twice.

3. One bad meet doesn’t equal a bad season.

Photo Courtesy:

Photo Courtesy:

Everyone has a bad meet. There is nobody in this world that can put up a PR after every swim. It’s just not possible. A bad meet or swim doesn’t mean you will have a bad season. It isn’t something that you should look at, and be discouraged by. It simply doesn’t work like that. The only thing that will truly carry over from that specific meet is the mindset you take away from it. So don’t let one meet define your whole season. If the bad meet is your taper meet, don’t let it take away from the bright spots you had in your season. There is no reason to have tragic memories of a whole season, just because you had one below average meet.

4. Think about why you may have swum poorly.

This is important to think about so that you don’t make the same mistakes twice. Why was your performance disappointing? Did you not get enough sleep? Did you not eat enough? This is important to analyze, so you do not make the same mistakes before your next race. Think through your routine, and ask yourself if anything changed.

5. Keep a positive attitude.

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Whatever you do, do not leave that meet with a negative attitude. If you leave with a negative attitude, you have a chance to have more bad meets because of this one experience. It is super important to keep your head held high and use constructive criticism in order to make yourself a better swimmer for the future.

6. Have fun.

Make sure disappointing swims don’t cloud your entire experience. Having fun is what this sport is all about. If you’re not having fun then why are you still in the sport? If you can take away anything from this article, it’s to always have fun during your time swimming. Don’t sweat the small stuff, like the occasional bad meet. It shouldn’t define your experience as a swimmer, nor your memories.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Julie Liegel Miller
7 years ago

Emily Sauer Kaitlyn Miller

Lynnette Rush Watson
7 years ago

Meghan Watson

Manjeet Dhull
7 years ago

Nice pars

Marko Lekovic
7 years ago

Marta Lekovic vidi tko je na slici?

Charity Strate Weaver
7 years ago

Brylee Weaver??????

Brylee Weaver
7 years ago

Awesome article. I need to make sure I do all of these things after a bad meet

Kati Dawson
7 years ago

In case you ever have a bad meet Erin.

Mel Pearce
7 years ago

Tayla Pearce

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