By Jordan Sloan Posted June 3, 2009
I, along with many other athletes, was upset after reading the article about Lowry’s swim team. You can’t sit there and tell me that people who do sports all year are less fit than a person who just swims. Yes, you do need to be fit to swim, but you can’t even compare it to other sports. You can’t say Lowry swimmers have talent that ‘dwarfs the skills of other athletes.’
I am not going to lie, I don’t swim, but I know that I am a pretty fit guy. Other athletes may not swim either, but I doubt many swimmers can run a 400-meter race in less than a minute, hit a golf ball over 100 yards, knock the ball out of the park, pin their opponent, or hit a 3.
You say runners have little lung capacity. Well, runners gasp for air not due to “a lack of lung capacity”, but because they push it the whole way. Everybody breathes heavily after exerting themselves. Whether it be swimming a 100-meter race, sprinting a 100-meter race, or running 100 yards, when you stop, you are going to be gasping for air, no matter how heroic you are.
Brandi Brooks was quoted as saying, ‘I don’t think swim team has the right to boast so much, since they’ve never gone to State, besides a few.’ This is true. Wrestling sent a lot of state qualifiers and brought back the state title along with individual wins. Both basketball teams went to State. Cross Country won. Soccer was closed. Track always sends a lot as well, and golf always has people place at State. What do these sports have in common? You have to be well fit to play well and continue playing well, especially for wrestling, cross country, and soccer.
You call the swim team’ Heroes of the Halls’ Heroes to who? Heroes are people who can be looked up to by others. You don’t portray the swimmers as heroes in your article, you portray them to be conceited.
All I am saying is that a ‘fit’ person is somebody who has the ability to do many different types of exercises and sport well. One sport specialists shouldn’t bash on other athletes, especially since they just do that: one sport.
You just can’t compare swimming to running, baseball, football, volleyball, or any other sport! Each sport has certain requirements. Comparing these sports are like comparing apples to oranges: it can’t be done.
