Skip to main content

Why I Love Swimming

Anyone who really knows me is already aware of my love for competitive swimming. I truly am wet behind the ears. If they made a perfume that smelled like chlorine, I'd wear that scent everyday! (And I wonder why I'm still single.)

I started swimming at age 8 on Coney Island's swim team in Cincinnati, Ohio.


The team needed another girl for the 8 & Under relay and my older sisters dragged me to practice one morning. Diving into the crystal blue water, thrashing about with little technique, joking with teammates . . . it's where the love affair began. That autumn I joined a club team and swam year-round until I graduated from college, often practicing twice a day.

Even my shoe size (12) indicates that swimming is the sport for me. God gave me flipper feet!

(I'm on the left with my friend Katie. Look at the size of those toes!)

Here's what swimming has given me:

1) Friends. I've met so many quality individuals in this sport.

2) A strong work ethic. My coach Tim once told us, "Get ready for a tough practice. Are you a man or a mouse? A woman or a wouse?" I learned how to be a WOMAN, not a wouse!

3) Perseverance. Not everyone can swim four hours a day all year long.

4) An amazing college experience. I wouldn't have heard of Kenyon College if not for its swimming success (due to Coach Jim Steen, a wonderful mentor).

5) A career. How can I cope with anxiety before races? That question and others drew me to the field of counseling psychology.

And now swimming has given me one more gift: the upcoming Young Adult novel, Streamline. They say "Write what you know" so my first novel is about my favorite sport, mixed in with family drama, therapy, and a military murder mystery. It took a lot of hard work and perseverance to write and edit this story, and I can't wait to share my love of swimming with you.

Streamline is slated for release on 3-27-12. Stay tuned for the reveal of the cover and the video trailer, as well as giveaways!

What's YOUR favorite sport? Why do you love it?

Congratulations to Alicia and Lindsey, the big winners of the Young Adult Giveaway Hop!

Join us for the Author Blog Bounce, hosted by Omnific Publishing.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh, I'll be looking for Streamline on the shelves on release day! Great to know about the swimming and how it influenced your life. Good to see true and wonderful lessons learned being imparted to us who are looking for inspiration! AWESOME POST! :D
Patricia said…
First off, CONGRATS on the book release!!! Way to go girlie!! Second, I enjoy watching swim comps and all of my kids were blessed with my husband's water abilities and they all swim like fish where as I swim like a rock. Don't get me wrong, I CAN swim, just not very well let's just say that water and I aren't the greatest of friends. And third, my favorite sport, I would have to say it is Freestyle Motocross! I'm an X-Games junkie and I LOVE to watch the absolutely INSANE things these guys do on a motorcycle and Travis Pastrana is my boy! As far as participating in sports, well, I'm an accident waiting to happen (hello, fall down a flight of stairs recently much?) so I stick to observing because I'd probably drown or break my leg in one of those fancy underwater turns LOL!
F. Stone said…
Hi Jennifer: Congratulations on the upcoming release of your next novel. Oh, what a happy time.
My swimming experience was wonderful; learned to swim in the backwashes of the Saskatchewan River. Then I nearly drowned in a lake, saved by my Guardian Angel, and haven't done much paddling since then.
I was attending aquasize in our local fitness center but my fingernails began to disintegrate. What do you do to save your hair and nails from the chlorine?
Feather
Nicki Elson said…
I can't even picture you being a wouse.

Very cool that you found your love of swimming at a young age - I'm sure your passion for it comes alive on the pages of your upcoming release. And it looks like that's not the only way swimming helped prepare you for the publishing process. Way to persevere!
Cherie Colyer said…
It's great that you have a sport you truly love. Love the pictures. I'll be watching for the cover reveal!
Debra Anastasia said…
I think I found a wouse in my armpit. I did not know you had another release! Congrats! That's awesome. Just keep swimming. ;)
Jennifer Lane said…
Jack, swimming has really influence my life in a positive way. Inspiration is all around us, I guess, and I've been blessed with tremendous coaches to inspire me.

Patricia, thank you! I'm super stoked about the release of STREAMLINE, which will be here before I know it. Are there many X-games sports at the Olympics? I can't wait to watch swimming broadcast from London this August. I'm sure you'd be ace at flipturns if you had a good teacher!
Jennifer Lane said…
Feather, I think I read about that harrowing almost-drowning experience on your blog, yikes. That'd totally turn you off swimming. I occasionally swim in open water but typically stick with the safe swimming pool environment. I think drowning would be a horrible way to die. I once had fake nails but they couldn't survive. However, my hair does okay as long as I only swim a few times a week and use lots of conditioner. One tip is to apply conditioner to your hair before you dive in, and wear a swim cap.
Jennifer Lane said…
Nicki, but being a wouse sounds kind of fun! What sound would a wouse make? Instead of *squeak squeak* maybe *weak weak*? My lovely editors helped me pare down the obnoxious length of the story but I still got to keep in some of the passionate swimmming scenes. ;)

Cherie, I feel blessed I found swimming. I swim about twice a week now with some really great friends.

Debra, I hear deodorant can help with armpit wice. ;) I wrote Streamline in 2007, which expedited the publishing process (despite mucho editing).

Thanks for stopping by, Omnificsisters!