College Swimming
this article was written by our very own Jason Brame who is in his first year at Old Dominion:

Just a few short months ago I began attending Old Dominion University and became a part of the swim team. Though difficult and very different, swimming in college is perhaps one of the most exciting things I have done in my life. The atmosphere is different, much like high school swim meets with lots and lots of cheering. Everyone cheers for one another throughout the entire meet, no matter how long the meet or race may be. Our team has a policy that everyone must be on their feet cheering for their teammates unless your event is up next. Most meets are just dual meets, which means the meet is exciting and goes by very quickly. In season, we compete about every other weekend.
The training is quite different as well. We generally separate into three different groups: sprint, middle distance/stroke, and distance. If you belong in more than one training group, you will alternate between the groups. The swimming is intense enough to keep you broken down, but not enough to slow you down greatly enough for competitions. To provide more time for main sets, we often stretch before practice so we do not need as much warm up to go fast. Even though it is hard work, the coaches know how to make a workout fun and push us to our limits at every practice. Before each set, the coaches will tell us what needs to be focused on and which parts of the workout need to be at what effort. They make sure that each and every set means something.
The most difficult part about training for me has definitely been the weight training. It is extremely different from what I have dealt with through LY. We lift three times per week for between an hour and an hour and a half. Most of our exercises deal with free weights and dumbbells and a lot of core work. We have a weight coach that writes specific workouts for each session and communicates with our coaches for when our lifting needs to be heavier or lighter.
Academically, swimming has helped to keep me in check. In a way, it forces you to learn how to manage your time wisely. Along with your regular academic advisors, you are also assigned an athletic academic advisor, who checks with us at regular intervals throughout the semester to see how our grades are and if we are satisfied with how everything is going. Preparing for the next semester, they meet with us to help schedule classes around practice times as well as guide us to the right classes for our major. The advisors know what teachers are best for athletes, one’s that are more accepting of missing a class due to a competition, and are more available to meet if a class is missed.
The team is perhaps the best thing about the sport. All incoming freshman are always worried whether they will be able to make friends easily or not. When you are on the team, you no longer have to worry about whether you will be able to make friends. The team is already accepting of you and is a set of designated friends you will have from the very first day. Your teammates are like family, your brothers and sisters, your best friends; you will always have someone to look up to or someone looking up to you. The team is what keeps us going every day, what will push us harder even when we feel we have no energy left. The team does everything together, whether it be pushing through a hard practice, helping one another on homework, or going to a football game.
Collegiate swimming has already proven to be an amazing experience. It gives you such enthusiasm at competitions and keeps you in line. If you feel like you are getting burned out, swimming in a college atmosphere will get rid of that in a heartbeat. My advice to younger swimmers: have a goal to swim in college. Swimming in college is exciting and has so many benefits, why not try it?

Follow Your Dreams with LY Swimming:

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--which is:
Try to please everybody.
Herbert Bayard Swope

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT:

Head Coach and Director of Competitive Swimming: TJ Liston 434-444-1256

Assistant Director of Competitive Swimming Lisa Liston 434-384-6338