As a swim coach I’m constantly trying to teach my swimmers, both young and old, how to hold onto the water. I realize that if you’re not very familiar with swimming this concept seems ridiculous. Hold onto water? How’s that even possible? Part of it requires a great deal of experience. The more you swim the more aware you become of what your body is actually doing. You begin to develop a “feel for the water.” If you talk to anyone that has swum consistently (several days a week) for a long period of time (say 3-4 months or more) and then took a break of 1 or 2 weeks (or longer )upon returning to the water, they’ll quickly tell you the water feels different.They don’t quite feel right or can’t really feel the water very well. As a result, they may struggle for a period to “hold onto the water.”
Anchor Point
So back to my original point, I spend a lot of my time teaching how to hold onto the water. The idea is to anchor your hands and forearms in the water and pull your body past that anchor point. Sounds simple,right? Well it sort of is, but at the same time isn’t. It takes a lot of practice. And if you aren’t swimming consistently you will find it hard to develop that good feel for the water that’s necessary to hold on to it. One tool I like to use are hand paddles. I’ve found that they bring a greater awareness to creating that anchor point. I also like to create a mental image of one grabbing with the hand and forearm a wall that is set in place in the water and pulling the body past the wall.There are other ways to get better at holding the water and if you ask I can teach them to you.
But I can also tell you what doesn’t work…..I’ve seen plenty of swimming in my 17 years coaching that doesn’t work. Flailing at the water definitely doesn’t result in good swimming. Spreading the fingers really wide doesn’t help.Trying to slip or slice through the water with the least amount of resistance gets you nowhere fast.
You know what’s interesting? Life is the same way. To get anywhere you must have a good feel for what you are doing.That means that you have to be able to hold onto the moment and make the most of that very experience.Whatever you are trying to accomplish or excel at will require consistent work (research shows that to become an “expert” it requires 10,000 hours). You can’t spread yourself too thin and you certainly can’t flail around aimlessly. You must be focused and operate with purpose. And along the way to becoming an expert you will encounter resistance. A lot of resistance.How you deal with and respond to that resistance will determine your fate. Zig Ziglar once said, “Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting up and moving forward is a choice.”Vince Lombardi said, “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and the coming back.”And finally one of my favorite quotes is from Friedrich Nietzsche,“I assess the power of will by how much resistance, pain, torture it (ones will) endures and know how to turn to its advantage.”
Your Anchor Point
And just like successful swimming requires one to hold onto the water with the hand/forearm finding an anchor point in the water, life needs an anchor point. What do you anchor your life to? Do you even have an anchor point or are you just flinging your life into the pool hoping you happen to catch some water and with your life spread thin,miraculously pull yourself past the point at which you’re sinking?
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.” Hebrew 6:19,20