Record Holder again….

I reminisce with a swim friend about suits back in the day compared to my swimmers current style. Back in the day, we would wear two suits to practices. The suit on top would be your oldest suit with holes and stretched out. We’d wear the top suit for “drag” to make swimming harder/train better. We’d also put the straps down on the bottom suit because the straps dig into your shoulders.

Comapre with my swimmer DC who wants a training bikini because she doesn’t want tan lines from practice this summer. I would never have dreamt about swimming practice in a bikini.

Record Holder here.

Don’t think record is “threatening”. Was very surprised when some the records still stood while my kids were swimming. It was a bit surreal. I would jokingly tease my kids that they didn’t beat me or bet them some candy from concessions if they beat my time.

I swam club beginning around 8-9 years old. My parents did put me in a variety of activities when I was young. Did figure skating, swimming, basketball, tball, and soccer. Lived on a cul de sac of kids and was always running around outside. I did travel soccer and swimming until about 8th grade when something had to give.

During HS joined a club that was intense - doubles practices, etc. Trained with swimmers going to Pan American games and US Olympic Trials. I eventually got burned out. Parents were focused on school, swimming was something for fun if school work was being kept up with. Bad grades and I would be out of swimming. I missed out on a lot of social things too due to swim in HS.

I swam D3 and actually played soccer again in college after not playing in HS. Was named MVP in swim program freshmen year, but eventually gave up swimming in junior year when I went abroad. Could have swam at university abroad but I wanted to see the other country and not the inside of another pool. Got job out of college with consulting firm. Rest is history. I don’t swim in a masters program, but wish I did.

Anonymous wrote:I love these stories! We have a couple on the our boards in Arlington from the 1970s. I remember reading an interview with the guy who has the NVSL 8U boys free record that’s from 1965 (?) and wondering if it will ever be broken.

Also - not to derail this into an equipment fight like the one that’s ruining the other swim thread, but I do think not would be fun to see what suits/caps/goggles were like 50–70 years ago. I remember foam lined goggles from the 90s but the caps and suits seemed fairly similar.

We have some really old photos floating around our pool. In the 70s the suits were all Arena and had a kind of funny low boy-cut for the girls. All I wanted back then was the arena suit with the little logos going up the stripe along the hip and back.

I remember “fun suits” in my late 70s childhood being a weird thick knit and/or a thin terrycloth. I can’t remember what team suits felt like but I think they were closer to thick elastic cotton knits than they were to modern Lycra knits.

The foam-lined goggles were a thing in the very late 70s but I was too little to remember before that.

My relatives who swam in the 60s and early 70s claim there were no goggles?

All of this still begs the question of how on earth those kids were so darn fast in spite of bad or no goggles, heavy suits, etc. Maybe it was because they didn’t waste time putting on sunscreen or packing a healthy meal. The kids in the team photos all have bleached out hair, crazy tans, and look strung out like they’ve eaten nothing but Slush Puppies and giant Smarties for a month.

I love these stories! We have a couple on the our boards in Arlington from the 1970s. I remember reading an interview with the guy who has the NVSL 8U boys free record that’s from 1965 (?) and wondering if it will ever be broken.

Also - not to derail this into an equipment fight like the one that’s ruining the other swim thread, but I do think not would be fun to see what suits/caps/goggles were like 50–70 years ago. I remember foam lined goggles from the 90s but the caps and suits seemed fairly similar.

Anonymous wrote:Fun topic -

I am a record holder of a pool record (NVSL pool). I have one remaining record left from 1981. All my other records have been beat. It was fun showing my kids though when we would have meets against this pool that mom wasn’t too slow.

Queen!!! I was hoping a record holder would chime in. Do you think your record is threatening? What was the rest of your swim “career” like?

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest is from 1972.

But there is one woman who grew up in our neighborhood in the 80s who held most of the girls team records. Whenever one is broken she calls the kid who broke her record to congratulate them. It’s really nice.

I love that!

Our oldest is from 1972.

But there is one woman who grew up in our neighborhood in the 80s who held most of the girls team records. Whenever one is broken she calls the kid who broke her record to congratulate them. It’s really nice.

Fun topic -

I am a record holder of a pool record (NVSL pool). I have one remaining record left from 1981. All my other records have been beat. It was fun showing my kids though when we would have meets against this pool that mom wasn’t too slow.

1975 boys backstroke 8 and under 9/10

Everything else is super recent

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of these records are a product of the high yardage/burnout-creating training I experienced back then? Even in summer swim we used to swim absurd amounts of yardage. If your body could handle it, you got fast really quickly. If not, you became a diver.

Yes! 1980s/90s swim practices were brutal. Many of us left so young because of them. (Doubles at age 9, and such.) I remember having to do snakes at each summer league practice, and our pool had 10 lanes! You couldn’t stop! And we had to do free (10 lanes continuous), then fly, then breast. Most of us didn’t wear caps and many of us didn’t wear goggles. And we certainly didn’t bring water bottles to practice. We did, however, eat jello straight out of the packages.

Yes! We were doing what must have been almost 2500 yards in 45 minutes (including playtime) as really little kids. Our summer coach was an assistant coach of a Big 10 program and treated us like short college swimmers. 8 & unders never had goggles, everyone else forgot them half the time or the band snapped, and caps weren’t really a thing until you were an 11-12 and then you also added the previous year’s suit as your drag suit. I used to spend afternoons in the dark listening to the tv because my eyes hurt so bad from chlorine.

It’s funny because it’s true. 😂 This is GenX swimmers’ version of walking 10 miles to school uphill in a blizzard. Except we actually did it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every single one of our team’s old records (1978, 1982, 1984, 1988) are breaststroke, which, as a GenX 1980s breaststroker, is a riot. We didn’t even know a pullout was a thing (we would have been DQed), and we did extra wide frog legs and not the whip kick. I argue with my daughter that our way may have been faster (at least at the rec level), with 8 records on our team board for breaststroke, all of which took place between 1978-1988. GenX breaststrokers represent!!!!

Same at ours! Why is 8U and 9-10 breaststroke so slow?

My theories: kids are in less structured lessons before that and the really strict ymca/Red Cross progressions are not common anymore. We couldn’t even leave lessons without breaststroke AND rudimentary butterfly at 6/7 years old. Now in lessons there is way more emphasis on infant/toddler safety and freestyle to the detriment of other strokes. I also think modern breaststroke kick is faster for HS and up but a waste for younger kids and agree that old school is way faster. When little kids who are good swimmers try to ape big kid breaststroke, it becomes too vertical and stagnant.

Ok, breaststroke monologue over for today.

You’re my people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of these records are a product of the high yardage/burnout-creating training I experienced back then? Even in summer swim we used to swim absurd amounts of yardage. If your body could handle it, you got fast really quickly. If not, you became a diver.

Yes! 1980s/90s swim practices were brutal. Many of us left so young because of them. (Doubles at age 9, and such.) I remember having to do snakes at each summer league practice, and our pool had 10 lanes! You couldn’t stop! And we had to do free (10 lanes continuous), then fly, then breast. Most of us didn’t wear caps and many of us didn’t wear goggles. And we certainly didn’t bring water bottles to practice. We did, however, eat jello straight out of the packages.

Yes! We were doing what must have been almost 2500 yards in 45 minutes (including playtime) as really little kids. Our summer coach was an assistant coach of a Big 10 program and treated us like short college swimmers. 8 & unders never had goggles, everyone else forgot them half the time or the band snapped, and caps weren’t really a thing until you were an 11-12 and then you also added the previous year’s suit as your drag suit. I used to spend afternoons in the dark listening to the tv because my eyes hurt so bad from chlorine.

Anonymous wrote:Every single one of our team’s old records (1978, 1982, 1984, 1988) are breaststroke, which, as a GenX 1980s breaststroker, is a riot. We didn’t even know a pullout was a thing (we would have been DQed), and we did extra wide frog legs and not the whip kick. I argue with my daughter that our way may have been faster (at least at the rec level), with 8 records on our team board for breaststroke, all of which took place between 1978-1988. GenX breaststrokers represent!!!!

Same at ours! Why is 8U and 9-10 breaststroke so slow?

My theories: kids are in less structured lessons before that and the really strict ymca/Red Cross progressions are not common anymore. We couldn’t even leave lessons without breaststroke AND rudimentary butterfly at 6/7 years old. Now in lessons there is way more emphasis on infant/toddler safety and freestyle to the detriment of other strokes. I also think modern breaststroke kick is faster for HS and up but a waste for younger kids and agree that old school is way faster. When little kids who are good swimmers try to ape big kid breaststroke, it becomes too vertical and stagnant.

Ok, breaststroke monologue over for today.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if any of these records are a product of the high yardage/burnout-creating training I experienced back then? Even in summer swim we used to swim absurd amounts of yardage. If your body could handle it, you got fast really quickly. If not, you became a diver.

😂😂😂😂

I love this thread!