Hi everyone. So I am an incoming freshman at my university and for about 12 years I’ve been competitively swimming and my goal was always to swim in college. I was with the same club all 12 years of swimming in my hometown. Towards the end of my junior year and all of senior year I started to notice a decrease in motivation to swim. In the beginning of my senior year i committed to a school that offered me a decent scholarship. I thought that I was just tired of swimming with the same club, same people, and same coaches for so long. I never wanted to go to practice and I told myself “it will be better when college starts, I just need something new.” I’ve been at college now for almost 2 weeks and have been training since I got here with the team. I have absolutely no motivation to go to practice, the schedule is more demanding than any of my previous schedules and I don’t know if I should continue swimming or not. I’ve discussed it with family and close friends who just don’t want me to regret any decision I make and most of them believe it’s to early for me to make an accurate decision. Like I said I don’t really enjoy it when I’m there and I dread the practices all day. I want to be able to enjoy my college life, have time to hang out with friends, meet new people, and even stay up late…but with 5:30 am practices daily plus afternoons it’s just not possible. I’m worried if I quit I’ll regret it but I’m also worried if I stay I’ll continue to lack motivation and not enjoy.
I’m sure your family and friends know you much better than any stranger here on CC. And it sounds like they’re saying it’s too early to make a decision. So if you’re looking for advice, I’d take theirs.
Also you will make many friends on the swim team.
Are you at a DIII school where the scholarship is not dependent on your being on the team?
Can you talk to someone at the counseling center?
Can you talk to your coach?