Dayton Raiders Swim Club
Vol 1, No 6 (original post 2000, revised 2005)

"WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT FINALS?"

Have you ever watched the Olympics on TV and heard the announcer say something like, "Wow, what a swim! She won the gold medal and was swimming at such a blistering pace…. just a few tenths off her best time that she did at the World Championships last year!"

You may not pay much attention to the dialog between the announcers, only because all focus is on the pool deck where swimmers are jumping up and down and screaming in celebration of the gold medal. But what exactly happened in the race? First of all, the swimmer the announcer referred to won the race. For whatever reason: air & water temperature, diet, taper strategy, pool conditions; she didn’t achieve a best time. But she accomplished the highest level of achievement in the sport…a gold medal! The reason she won the race is simple: she learned how to race! Nobody really paid much attention to the fact that she did not achieve a best time.  Achieving a best time is something we strive to do almost every time we step up to the block.  However, the truth is, over a swimming career there are far more "adds" than "drops".   When a swimmer is fortunate enough to reach finals at a big meet, A Championships, State Championships, National Championships, U.S. Olympic Team Selection Trials, and the Olympics, there's nothing like going out there and RACING!! If we could ask the very first meet director what the intent of the very first swim meet, I'm sure she would say: "so swimmers can race each other!" In terms of structured competitions, the Japanese can point to evidence that races were held 2,000 years ago. More recently, when a race was held in London in 1844, invitations were sent far and wide - even to Native Americans. Several swimmers turned up, and although at this time swimmers from different parts of the world used different methods, many swimmers shocked crowds by winning comfortably by using a windmill action with their arms that was not too far removed from today's front crawl, the stroke used in modern freestyle races.  The bottom line is that these early "racers" showed up at lakes, water reservoirs, and ponds to do one thing: race!

When swimmers get to the championship level, the strategy of racing becomes more important than the times themselves. In Ohio High School Swimming, the only formula for advancing to the next level is by racing. In 16 sections across the state, the top 32 swimmers advance to each of 4 districts. In the 4 districts across the state, the top 24 swimmers advance to the state championships in Canton, Ohio. All this is accomplished without regard to times. Ohio High School swimming is known across the country as having one of the most exciting state swimming tournaments in the nation for this reason, similar to the NCAA Basketball tournament referred to as "March Madness".  Watching the Olympics on TV, you probably saw the finals heat in each event on TV. What you didn’t see were all of the preliminary heats and semifinals heats of each event, most of which lasted over several days.

So how does a swimmer learn how to race? Where does this learning come from? Certainly, no swimmer can go out there and just race the entire field of equally matched athletes without practice. That practice occurs now, while your swimmer is a member of the Dayton Raiders.

At most prelim/finals meets, you will notice the heats are circle-seeded. That means, regardless of what lane your swimmer is in, the other swimmers in the heat usually have completely different abilities. After the preliminary heats, the top 12, 16, or 20 swimmers from all of the heats qualify for finals and placed alongside other swimmers with equally matched times. This is where your swimmer learns how to race. Coaches help swimmers identify splits or strategies in the morning swim that can be improved at night. Sometimes, coaches will identify things about the other competitors to help strategize a better finals swim. The entire process teaches your swimmer how to race.

Some swimmers have a natural ability to race the field. Others have a difficult time because of nerves. In any case, your swimmer will become a better racer over time from experience.

The next time your swimmer qualifies for finals, be excited. Your swimmer will take one more step to learning how to race the perfect race. If you or your swimmer considers scratching finals because "it’s getting late and I (parent) am tired", then that is a lost opportunity and only delays the process further. Former Raider swimmer Adam Osweiler, who went on to become a standout swimmer at Ohio State University and now coaches with the Cincinnati Marlins, said at our team banquet in 1998, "I didn’t join a swim team to practice, I joined because I love to race."

Brent Peaden
Head Age Group Coach
Dayton Raiders