14 Ways To Tell You Come From a Swimming Family

14 Ways To Tell You Come From a Swimming Family

By J.P. Mortenson

Due to the sport’s all-consuming nature, swimming inevitably becomes a family affair. And once your family becomes a swimming family, the sport will affect your home life in more ways than you could have ever imagined! Here are 15 ways to tell you come from a swimming family.

1. Somewhere In Your House Is A Dedicated Gear Area.

This place is full of mesh bags, old see-through swimsuits, goggles, caps, and has a distinct smell of chlorine.

2. There Is Also Probably A Bucket Of Old Medals And Ribbons.

Photo Courtesy: Vaughn Ridley/Swimming Canada

After many years of meets, what was once so precious now just seems to pile up.

3. Chlorine-Fried Hair In Family Photos.

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Insidefoto / Deepbluemedia

No need to pay for haircuts when it just breaks off, and who doesn’t love that nice green tint?

4. Unending Amounts of Moisturizer.

Photo Courtesy: Isabelle Robuck

In swimming families, dry skin becomes a family-wide epidemic due to constant immersion in large bodies of chlorinated water. Moisturizer becomes an intimate family friend, as you probably have bottles of moisturizer in your car, shower, bag, and basically any other place you can think of.

5. Parkas.

Photo Courtesy: Chandler Brandes

For swimmers, parkas are like a warm hug that you get to wear on your way to the pool right up until the horrible moment when you have to take it off and jump into the freezing water for warmup. If you come from a swimming family, there are probably swimming parkas stashed all over your home, and you almost certainly have become either the recipient or donor of a hand-me-down.

6. Early Alarm Clocks.

Beep! Beep! Beep! It is 4:30 a.m. and still dark outside, of course indicating that it is time to go to the pool! If you come from a family of swimmers, it is almost a guaranteed that your family rises earlier than most.

7. Wardrobes That Are Full Of Worn Out Team And Meet Apparel.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

After years of being on teams and going to competitions, your family is likely to have large quantities of team shorts, shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and basically any other type of garment. Even parents seem to accumulate quite a bit of gear.

8. Stocked Fridge.

If you come from a swimming family, your fridge is probably overstocked with any type of food you can imagine, and it will shock you how quickly it all seemingly disappears into thin air. Your family’s grocery bill also probably resembles the national debt.

9. Family Vacations Only Being in August.

Anyone who thinks swimming is “seasonal,” think again. December break? Think “training.” Spring break? Think “training.” The good news is that most swimmers get a couple weeks off in August.

10. The Unending Barrage of Wet Towels.

Some swimming families have to have two dryers. And don’t even think about the towels that get forgotten in a swim bag for a few days. The good news is that most towels are new-ish, as many towels get orphaned at swim meets and practices. 

11. The Summer Olympics Are a Must-See Family Blockbuster Event.

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

At the Olympics, swimming is shown prime-time, and swimmers are among the leading men and women. Can we do this more often than one week every four years?

12. A Noticeable Lack of Land-Sport Ability and Coordination.

In nature, there are water animals, and there are land animals. For that same reason, if a swimmer is a two-sport athlete, the second sport is usually water polo.

13. Parents Who Are Willing To Wait For Hours To Watch Their Kids Swim For 30 Seconds, And Who Run And Hide At The Sentence “We Need Timers!”

Photo Courtesy: Cathleen Pruden

Parents are champions for enduring swim meet marathons, and Mom and Dad are no fools.

14. Kids Who Have Learned How to Annoy Each Other Because You Spend So Much Time In The Car Driving To Meets.

Photo Courtesy: Swimming World

Do you love singing every verse of “100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” three times? Do you love hearing it?

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