Trans-People Participating In Sports

[Herdfan]

Swimming is different than some other sports where brute strength or endurance alone is not enough to win. A female with decent technique could easily out swim the most jacked dude with no skill. Most people can’t swim 100 yards in a pool without struggling.

When my daughter first started swimming, there was a meet we went to that seeded everyone by time, but scored by age/gender. So you might have a fast 12yo in the same heat as a slow 15yo. What was apparent was that as a general rule, girls were faster in the 12U age groups, but then boys just took off. This was most likely due to girls having better strokes at that age. Then boys calmed down, their strokes got better and puberty hit and they were gone.

When I was coaching HS, we had a special needs girl who just wanted to be part of a sports team. She wasn't fast, but she could plod as long as practice was. Had a guy, who thought he was an athletic stud, come in after football season was over. She flat embarrassed him. He was hanging on the lane line trying to catch his breath and she would swim right past him. He never came back.

 

[AG_PhamD]

When my daughter first started swimming, there was a meet we went to that seeded everyone by time, but scored by age/gender. So you might have a fast 12yo in the same heat as a slow 15yo. What was apparent was that as a general rule, girls were faster in the 12U age groups, but then boys just took off. This was most likely due to girls having better strokes at that age. Then boys calmed down, their strokes got better and puberty hit and they were gone.

When I was coaching HS, we had a special needs girl who just wanted to be part of a sports team. She wasn't fast, but she could plod as long as practice was. Had a guy, who thought he was an athletic stud, come in after football season was over. She flat embarrassed him. He was hanging on the lane line trying to catch his breath and she would swim right past him. He never came back.

I would generally agree with that observation. First of all, when talking about pre-pubescent kids, there’s not a huge difference between boys and girls. Boys still tend to be stronger and have better aerobic fitness overall, but when it comes to upper body and abdominal strength specifically and muscle endurance the advantage is small. Girls have better flexibility which is very important in swimming, as well as balance which I would guess relates to a better sense of kinesthesis, which would suggest better technique. Boys also tend to not have a lot of body fat making it harder to float. Boys also start puberty later. Even at the high school level, especially 9th and 10th graders, it’s not uncommon to see girls out swim boys.

Interesting, Women have tend to be very competitive with men in ultra long distance swimming.

I can’t tell you the number of times some a-hole 6’4” 250lb bodybuilding bro who may or may not be on steroids attempts to stop by the pool for the first time and show off- getting into the lane next to me and clearly trying to “race”, assuming his strength is everything. Only to be quickly disappointed that me at 5’10” and 150lbs can swim laps around him without even trying. After 200 yards of flailing in the water they then leave, never to be seen again.