Serious/Competitive Swimming??

Question

During summer vacation I took a trip to see some relatives in Iran. At one of their get-togethers I was introduced to a successful sports coach there who had coached several Iranians to Asian championships as well as one to Olympics. We started talking about sports and basically for the rest of the night all he did was talk about how I am perfectly suited for swimming. I'm 17, 6ft, 170 lbs, an ecto/mesomorph, able to put weight on/lose it as i see fit, and the coach said my build is a god given gift for swimming(something about my back and my chest crevice... cant remember), even though i barely ever swim. He said with the proper training and coaching i could be really going places in 2 years. Now, I'm a fairly logical and sensible guy. I like to take things one step at a time, so firstly, where do i start?? Obviously jump into a pool and swim, but where can i find a proper coach to teach me fundamentals/techniques and get the ball rollin?? And as for competitions, when do i start participating in them? Any tips and advice from veteran swimmers/coaches would be great, and thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can find a club through USA swimming or go to your state's swimming.org website.  Generally it is your state's 2 letter abbreviation,swim.org.  There you fill find clubs that have trained coaches and also compete in State and USA sanctioned meets which is the "breeding ground" for the US Olympic team.   Find a good private coach first to work on your swimming skills seeing as you are beginning late.  (I started competing at age 7)  Look for coaches that have the same kinds of quals I do and you should be fine.  Good luck!

Answer 2

Look at your local pools for a swim team and start from there.  

Answer 3

I am 18 now and I have been swimming since I was 7 years old.  My first piece of advice would be not to look to far ahead of yourself.  Many people who start as late as you do usually have a very hard time learning proper racing technique.  Furthermore it is easy to swim decently but its is extremely hard to be fast.

Nevertheless, it has been done before.  I would go to www.usaswimming.org and search for a club in your area and contact the coach of the oldest training group and explain your situation.  In the mean time do as much aerobic work as you can as well as alot ab work.

good luck