Is this how it always is? Someone is in the media's spotlight and suddenly the whole world is an expert on the matter? Acting like they care? Like now that it's a hot story and the subject is himself hot, everyone loves him and is buzzing about him?
Photo courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk
I mean, come on. Michael Phelps was completely and stupendously awesome before Saturday when he won his 8th Olympic gold medal in a single Olympics...in case you were under a rock for the Games thus far. (Which by the way was such an amazing thing to witness, I have to say.) But now everyone thinks they know a thing or two about swimming.
But if that brings attention the the often-ignored sport, then maybe I should be ok with it.
I swam for 9 years. Age 9 to 18. I was never good enough to go past the state levels in club or sectionals in high school, but still, I was alright. I wish I had stuck with it. While I had talent, which I admit, was probably from my complete immersion in it at an early age; as time went on, I grew a little tired of it. Some of the people involved were petty and hard to deal with. And I was getting a little bored. High school came along which jazzed it up a bit. But even then, I had a lot of social activities outside of the sport. It didn't help that my parents were really the only ones who cared (which helped me stick with it as long as I did). Because I wasn't involved with a "fun", "exciting" or "easy-to-watch" sport, no one would come to see me swim my little heart out. While I am the first to admit that if you don't know the times someone is swimming, an all-day meet can get exceptionally challenging to sit through. It's hot, crowded and uncomfortable to sit on the bleachers for the whole day. But in high school, the meets are only two hours at most. The pace is faster, there are more teammates cheering, there are team cheers at the beginning, there is a winning and losing team (instead of individual places and times). But still, it was rare that we had non-parent spectators. Even my grandparents didn't care much for it. They were more interested in their local high school volleyball team (with none of their own grandchildren on it) than in my swimming. My dad was a timer at most of my early meets, then he started running the things, and finally officiating them. He still does. He runs the state meets, and sometimes even bigger ones than that. Swimming is in our family. I need to get back to it. Looking back, I think if my focus had been a little different, I could have been something more. Nothing on the Olympic level. No no. But still.
(That's me on the far right. Laughable if you've seen me anytime recently. I was thin and had muscles!)
I guess what I'm trying to say is that swimming has been around for a long time and people haven't really cared much about it. If you only support the Olympians, people may not have the encouragement to get to that level, when you don't pay attention to the little guys. The eight year-olds bumbling down the pool, as adorable as can be; the eleven, twelve and thirteen year-olds who are uncomfortable with their own bodies in swim suits, but do their best anyways; the first timer swimming in high school, using all their courage to try out for the team; the senior who may or may not ever swim again. They all need representation. Not just the fabulous people in front of the cameras. Please don't be fickle.