Having been a competitive swimmer my whole life, I know that many people make assumptions about swimmers and swimmers' lives. Many people seem to assume things about swimming, despite never actually having done the sport. However, many of these assumptions about swimmers are incorrect, and I, as a competitive swimmer of ten plus years, would like to clear some things up.

1. Swimmers eat 10,000 calories a day

This is not true in the slightest! There has been a lot of talk recently about Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps and how they eat an unbelievable amount of food. Do not get me wrong: swimmers have crazy appetites! No swimmer, (that you know personally), eats 10,000 calories a day! Swimmers are very conscious of their food choices. We eat pasta on race days, and yes, we definitely enjoy donuts, but we do not eat all sweets all the time, nor all pasta all the time. Although we burn many calories during swimming, we would not practice well if we were only running on cake! Even Lochte and Phelps, with their 10,000 calorie diets, do not eat only junk food! In fact, they eat mostly fruits and veggies. Along with that, they eat a ton of protein, because protein is what keeps you going throughout the day and throughout practices.

2. All swimmers wake up at 3 a.m. to practice

I once heard a mom say that she did not want to sign her daughter up for a year-round swim team because she could not drive her there at 3:00 A.M. for practices. Mind you, her daughter was ten years old. At my year round team, you are not even allowed to practice in the morning groups until you are 15! Likewise, the morning practices are 4:30 A.M.-6:30 A.M. not 3:00 A.M. Even then, only the really good swimmers go to these early morning practices. All of the swimmers there that early love what they are doing. Trust me. No one would go to practices that early if they did not love their sport.

3. Swimmers practice all day, every day

A lot of people also seem to assume that all swimmers have to practice all day, every day. This is not true! Think of it like any other sport--no one practices four hours a day for their sport, except for the best of the best! That is exactly how swimming works. The very best swimmers, like college students and professional athletes, have to go to 10-12 practices a week. Yup, that means twice a day. Mind you, the swimmers who work their ways up to these group are really good. As in, they are Olympic and World Championship hopefuls. So, while it is true that swimmers practice constantly, it is definitely not all day every day.

4. Swimming is hard

Many people think that swimming is the hardest sport! To some degree, it is challenging. I prefer to think of it as just that: challenging. Swim coaches like to challenge their athletes. Coaches do not try to punish their kids and make the practices impossible, but kids will not get better if they are not challenged. Likewise, you do not start out in the hardest group. There are groups for the beginners, the intermediates, and the advanced, much like any other sport.

5. Swimming is easy

Many people seem to think that swimming is easy... this is also not true! Swimming is definitely a challenging sport like I said above. However, a lot of people hang out at their pools during the Summer and then think that swimming competitively is super easy. Swimming competitively is very different than swimming around the pool. For one, it is a completely different swimming style then when you are just hanging out. Many people do more of a doggy paddle when they are playing around, whereas we are taught at practices to make your body as long as possible. This means reaching with your hands as far as you can, pointing your toes, and keeping your chin tucked. So, even though swimming is not impossible and you are not expected to be Michael Phelps after one day, it is also not as easy as jumping off of the diving board and swimming to the side, or sharks and minnows.

So, as you can see, swimming is not all that it seems to be! There are plenty of things that people view incorrectly about the sport. I am just here to clear a few things up.