I’ve mentioned before that I swam competitively when I was younger — though I hasten to again point out I was nowhere near as good as my two main characters, Sean Colbeth and Vasily Korsokovach. Having grown up in the sport, I’ve kept up with the changes to it over the years, from the full-body suits to pool designs that help increase the odds of yet another world record being set. My time in the pool these days mostly revolves around doing laps purely for fitness purposes, but each time I hit the water (or, perhaps, once that very recognizable scent of chlorine accosts my nose), I know my own experience as a swimmer informs how I present both Sean and Vasily’s perspective on the sport.
But that can only take me so far, of course; adding to that base, I spend far more time than you can imagine pouring over the latest information I can find; it’s a huge advantage when the Summer Olympics roll around every four years, for the in-depth reporting from that event (and in the months leading up to it) often contains compelling tidbits that will often find their way into the backstories of my characters or enhances their own take.
Thinking about that recently reminded me that a reader had reached out while reading Blindsided with a question about the pool Sean and Vasily visit fairly early in the story. For context, here is how I described it in the book:
The short hallway connected to another door that had been propped open to the pool deck. I followed Vasily in and we worked our way around the controlled chaos a swim practice in session generated. I’d used the facility myself from the age of eight and was well acquainted with the two pools: one fifty-meter by twenty-five yard medium depth pool and a smaller, twenty-five meter by twenty-five meter diving well that doubled as the venue for the water polo team. Both pools were in use, with the larger set for fifty-meter long course. As we entered the men’s locker room to retrieve the gear we’d left, I paused to watch a young diver launch himself off the ten-meter board and cleave the surface of the diving well with nary a splash.
Blindsided — Chapter 3. (Christopher H. Jansmann)
I’ve had the chance to swim in quite a few wondrous facilities over the years, and the one that I created for the University of Eastern Maine is a bit of a composite of a few of them. Any elite college program — especially one that turns out Olympic-caliber athletes — would look pretty similar to what I described, but if you are new to the sport (or Sean and Vasily are the first swimmers you’ve ever encountered), it’s quite likely you might not quite be able to fathom the measurements I’ve snuck into the prose.
For example, I noted that the larger pool was fifty-meter by twenty-five yards — that is to say, the length of longest side of the rectangle is fifty meters, and the width is twenty-five yards. The sport generally refers to this as an Olympic-sized pool, for it allows athletes to train/compete using the distances recognized by the Olympics (i.e. races that take place in fifty-meters increments — 50 Freestyle, 400 IM, etc.). This generally allows for five to eight lanes when the pool is set for long course workouts, depending on how well the pool manager is carving up the aquatic real estate.
Colleges and private swim clubs in the United States make use of the shorter, twenty-five yard side of the pool as many local swim meets will compete in what we call short course. In fact, the high school I swam at actually only supported the twenty-five yard distances, which is pretty typical in non-NCAA competitions.
For schools that support either a diving program or a water polo club (or both), there will often be a smaller twenty-five meter by twenty-five meter pool that is quite deep; this allows for the platform diving you often see at the Olympics but also provides a space for the water polo players to practice such that they are unable to touch the bottom. I tried my hand at diving just once — standing at the edge of the tall diving platform can give even the most composed person a case of vertigo; my experience with water polo extends only as far as the one time I paddled around in an inner tube back in fifth grade.
As the diving team often shared the same practice times as my swim club, though, I did come to know a few talented individuals as well as gain a true appreciation for just how tough that sport is. It’s also why a new main character in Ditched happens to be a diver, too… but that’s another story for another day…