Swimming Stateside

Symptoms of a swimmer: sweating chlorine, dry scaly skin and permanent goggle marks.

As a ‘retired’ swimmer, 5am starts and endless training sessions are a thing of the past. But it appears that some habits die hard. With my dorm room beginning to smell more and more like a swimming pool every day and chlorine chemicals becoming embedded into my skin, the competitive swimmer I used to be seems to be making reappearance with my thirst to get back in the pool and get in shape.

The phrase “I can’t, I have swim training” is one I consistently over-used growing up. Parties, days out, trips to the cinema and endless other weekend activities were always put on hold when swimming was on the cards. Now, I find myself stumbling over the exact same words when other students ask me to grab dinner or go down town. What is happening?

One of the biggest differences between the University of Kent and the University of South Carolina is the sports facilities. The fact that I can train 9 times a week, every week, with an actual team and go as much or as little as I want is amazing! Kent up your game! I cannot articulate clearly enough how big college sports is in the USA. A business worth billions of dollars, it makes its money from attendance at sports events, sponsorship and TV rights. It’s no wonder that the Universities here have the money to invest in top athletic facilities and coaching for their students.

With all these extra training sessions I decided that competing may not be entirely out the picture. At the weekend I travelled to Athens, GA where The University of Georgia campus is situated. The pool was undeniably amazing (yet another small reminder of Kent’s lack of facilities)! I swam in both the Free and Medley Relays and surprised myself in ranking second in both the 50 and 100 Breast. A worthy effort for an ‘old timer’!

Whilst I haven’t quite got to the stage where my swim suit is constantly rubbing my neck and giving me obnoxious looking ‘love bites’, I know that my childhood sport will probably always stay with me. Even when I can no longer go sub 27 seconds for 50 free, I am constantly reminded by the fact that I can never fit into the tops I want to wear with my ‘swimmer shoulders’ and always seem run out of conditioner before my shampoo is half empty. #swimmerproblems.