The Swimmer's Drive

The Swimmer's Drive

There are certain things in life that require motivation. Perhaps going on a diet requires you to give up a food that you love (maybe a little too much...). Maybe finishing your work, homework, or a big project before the weekend requires you to skip your lunch break or your free period. These things often require an extra push. They are things that we don't want to do, but we know that it will be worth it once completed. Waking up at 5:30am and diving into a cold pool before the sun comes up is one of those things.

Morning practices can be a bear to get up for.



There are two different types of motivation. The more common of the two is extrinsic motivation. Our society today is becoming more and more reliant on extrinsic motivators. These are usually material items.

• Mom telling her son, "If you clean your room I'll give you a cookie."
• Teacher telling his students, "If you guys are quiet I will give you candy."
• Coach telling his swimmers, "If you get a personal best you earn a piece of candy

We are becoming so reliant on rewards, that we demand them. Construction companies are given a deadline and they only finish on time if there are extra incentives. Kids only behave in class if there is candy at the end of the period. Athletes only perform their bests if they receive something in return. What ever happened to intrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic motivation is motivation from within oneself. The desire to be better for the sole reason that you will be better because of it.

• A kid cleaning his room because he likes the feeling of living in a clean environment.
• A student paying attention in class because it is what they are supposed to do and it will make them a better student.
• A swimmer shooting for personal best times because that means they are becoming a better swimmer.

There is no money in swimming. There are hardly even any scholarships in swimming. The best athletes in the world still receive only partial scholarships. The biggest pay day in swimming was when Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He received $1 million from Speedo. Compare that to the newest big football contract. JJ Watts signed a contract for 6 years and $100 million.

Unless it is an Olympic year, swimming is hardly even recognized as a sport. World records go unnoticed. National champions are not recognized on the street. Sometimes even swimmers' best friends don't realize what their swimmer friend has accomplished. Swimmers generally go unseen. Especially at 5:00am.

Therefore, swimmers MUST rely on intrinsic factors of motivation. They have to want to be better. They have to want to beat their rival. They have to want to drop their time by even a hundredth of a second. They must live and die on improving their times by the smallest of margins. They must recognize these improvements to reassure themselves that they are getting better. That they are getting faster. That all of the hard work is worth it.

Staring at a black line back and forth for hours and hours can be boring. Not being able to talk to the people around you, not being able to hear anything, not being able to listen to music, and not being able to breathe for the majority of your workout - this is what dampens the mood of swimming for most. But swimmers thrive in these conditions. When you are left alone with your thoughts, there is a lot of battling going on in your brain whether to give in to the pain or to push through it.

Those that possess the intrinsic motivation push through the pain because they want to be better.

Those that require extrinsic motivation are not likely to find it.

And those that require no motivation...well...they probably just aren't cut out to be swimmers.

Michael Phelps and Garret Weber-Gale celebrate after the greatest come-from-behind race in history.
The men's 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics. Want to see inspiring? Search YouTube for the video.

WHICH WILL YOU BE?