The Importance of Showing Up: Why Being There Matters More Than You Think
In swimming, we spend a lot of time talking about hard work, dedication, and consistency. We talk about the importance of getting to practice on time, putting in the yards, and doing everything we can to get a fraction of a second faster. But one of the most important lessons this sport teaches us is something that often gets overlooked: The importance of simply showing up. Not just for ourselves, but for our teammates, our coaches, and the people who make this sport so special.
Every swimmer knows what it’s like to have days when getting to the pool feels like the last thing they want to do. Maybe it’s an early morning practice after a long week of school, an afternoon when you’re exhausted, or a Saturday morning meet when you’d rather be sleeping in. There will always be days when motivation is hard to find, and that’s part of being an athlete. What matters is understanding that progress isn’t built only on the days when you feel your best. It’s built through consistency, patience, and the willingness to put in the effort even when things aren’t going perfectly.
Of course, showing up doesn’t mean ignoring your body when you need rest or pushing through an injury. It means recognizing the difference between needing recovery and simply not feeling motivated. Some of the practices that seem the least exciting end up being the ones where you learn the most about yourself. Maybe you surprise yourself during a difficult set, have a conversation with a teammate that turns your day around, or leave the pool feeling better than when you arrived. You never really know what a day might bring until you give yourself the opportunity to experience it.
However, showing up is about much more than your own training. Although swimming is often viewed as an individual sport, the people around us play an enormous role in our experiences. Think about how much better a difficult practice feels when your teammates are encouraging each other, or how exciting a close race becomes when you can see your friends cheering from the side of the pool. Sometimes, a few words of encouragement from a teammate can completely change someone’s day. The energy we bring to practice and meets doesn’t just affect us. It affects everyone around us.
This is especially important to remember when the spotlight isn’t on you. It’s easy to get excited about a meet when you’re chasing a personal best, swimming your favorite event, or trying to qualify for a championship meet. But what about when your races are finished and your teammates still have events left? What about the younger swimmer competing in their first big meet, or the teammate who has been working all season to finally achieve a goal? Staying to cheer, celebrating their accomplishments, and being genuinely excited for their success can mean more than you realize. You might not think twice about standing behind someone’s lane and cheering them on, but that swimmer might remember looking up and seeing their teammates there.
The same goes for everyday practices. Being a good teammate doesn’t require being the fastest swimmer in the pool or having a leadership title. Sometimes, it means noticing when someone is struggling, including a younger swimmer in a conversation, or making an effort to bring positive energy to the group. Everyone has something to contribute to a team, and the strongest team environments are often built through these small, consistent actions. When swimmers make an effort to support one another, the pool becomes a place where everyone feels like they belong.
As an age-group swimmer, it’s natural to focus on the next time standard, championship meet, or personal best. Those goals are exciting, and working toward them is an important part of the sport. But as you get older, you begin to realize that some of your favorite swimming memories have very little to do with the times on the scoreboard. You’ll remember the teammates who made early morning practices bearable, the bus rides to meets, the laughter between sets, and the races when your entire team was standing behind the blocks cheering. You’ll remember the people who showed up for you, especially when things weren’t going your way.
And one day, you’ll have the opportunity to look back and realize that you were that person for someone else.
Swimming gives us the opportunity to accomplish incredible things, but it also teaches us how to be dependable, how to support others, and how to be part of something bigger than ourselves. The relationships and memories we build along the way are just as meaningful as the goals we achieve.
So whether it’s getting yourself to practice on a difficult day, staying a little longer at a meet to cheer for a teammate, or simply being someone others can count on, remember that showing up matters. You don’t have to have a perfect practice, win every race, or always know the right thing to say to make a difference.
Sometimes, just being there is enough.
Summer Finke is a regular contributor to Swimming World. A two-time qualifier for the United States Olympic Trials, she competed collegiately for North Carolina State University and was a multi-time NCAA Championships qualifier.