I heard locker room stories that Jerry, age 76, travels around the US competing in various Masters swim competitions. And, he's a winner too! When he isn't competing, you'll find him in a lane practicing. When he isn't practicing, you'll find him lifeguarding. He's a terrific lifeguard and you always feel safe under Badass Jerry's watchful eye.
Whenever Jerry lifeguarded he would watch me swim. At any given moment, Jerry would come walking over to my lane to point out something about my lousy technique that was driving him crazy.
So I was at my 6 week anniversary of learning to swim and Jerry was still trying to help me become a better swimmer. I told him about my meltdown the day before and how I cried in the car. He looked at me with this strange look and said "you can't quit now"! Now I don't know why, but I was surprised by his response. "I'm not quitting"! I said "I'm here today so that should prove to you that I'm not quitting". I mean really. If I was a quitter, we wouldn't be standing here right now having this discussion, would we?
Jerry took a moment and explained what over reaching meant. He said that when I spear my hand into the water, I spear it very far out front which causes me to push the water down as opposed to back. He tells me to try the Salute drill. As your hand is ready to spear into the water, pretend your saluting as your hand reaches your temple are. Just don't over exaggerate the motion.
As I'm leaving that day, Jerry hands me an envelope containing several swim and triathlon articles. One of the articles, which I happened to enjoy, was written by Terry Laughlin. I had never heard of him before so I searched for him on Google and discovered Total Immersion Swimming. Hmmm, interesting.
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