Swimming as Culture

Note: Australians have alternative spellings for certain words. Two such instances pertinent to this blog are meter and center, which Australians respectively spell metre and centre.

Swimming has been an integral part of my life. Despite being thousands of miles from where I originally started swimming, I could not leave my passion for the sport behind. Unsurprisingly, I visited the Prince Alfred Park Pool, located down the street from the Central Railway Hotel where I am staying with my fellow classmates. Immediately, I noticed some differences even though swimming is a universal sport. The lap lanes ran the length of 50 metres, opposed to the typical 25 yards for a competitive pool in the United States of America. In addition, the swimmers were swimming down the left side of the swim lane instead of my accustomed right side. This observation paralleled the fact that Australians drive on the left side of the road, walk on the left side of the sidewalk, and stand on the left side of the escalators. The slight differences sparked my curiosity to find out more about Australian swimming culture, assuming that such a culture exists and carries substantial significance.

Swimming can be defined on a wide spectrum, but will for the purpose of this blog refer to the competitive sport and any associated components. One of the pool managers at the Prince Alfred Park Pool declared, “Australia is pretty competitive,” in terms of swimming. There are competitive teams of varying degrees distributed throughout Australia. She indicated, “We do not have an elite team here [in Sydney], but we have one up in Queensland. There they have a national team at the silver and gold levels.” I found this statement intriguing since it differed from my expectation. In Montgomery County, Maryland, there are numerous pools that compete competitively. Various levels of competitive swimming exist, but almost every neighborhood has competitive swimming, even if only at the most basic level. I would have thought that there would have been a few pools in the state and at least one or two pools in a major city, such as Sydney, to have swimming at a highly competitive level. My misconception shows how location strongly influences the beliefs and behaviors of its occupants.

As for New South Wales, competitive swimming is prevalent at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. The manager explained that the Olympic pool has a “serious club team.” This idea peaked my interest, since individuals can rank the same concept dramatically differently. Every individual and club team can be placed on a scale representing the level of dedication and skill presented. Even changing the circumstances can affect the bar on the scale. For example, people have often asked me whether I am a good swimmer. My answer has consistently been that it is all relative. I further explain that in respect to my recreational summer swim team, I am extremely fast compared to my competitors. When compared to my fellow teammates on my school team, I rank among the better swimmers. However, in comparison to my year-round competitive club team, I was by no means one of the best swimmers, only a single name hidden among hundreds of others.

The importance of competitive swimming in Australia relates to the cultural value of good health. As a sport, competitive swimming helps Australians remain active. Being healthy and active have become important issues in Australia. The focus on health has surfaced in other forms around the city. At the train stations, there are digital monitors that cycle through video segments about easy workouts to stay in shape and healthy food alternatives that are easy to make. In addition, there are less fast food options around the city compared to the United States. Through these different mediums, it is apparent that Australians value a healthy lifestyle.

My conversation with a pool manager provided me with further insight into Australian culture, more specifically the culture surrounding competitive swimming. Overall, there are many similarities between competitive swimming in Australia and the United States. This is to be expected based off of Trompenaars model of culture as a normal distribution, shown below. However, the differences make competitive swimming a fascinating subject when located amongst cultures that differ from my own. Health initiatives promoted by the Australian government coupled with the sport of swimming suggest that the Australian population emphasizes the value of being healthy. My encounter impressed upon me the idea that Australia is as devoted to the health benefits of competitive swimming as the competitive nature of the sport. American competitive swimmers often carry an attitude that everyone who does not finish first is a loser. In promoting health just as equally, competitive swimming illuminates its role as a definite element of culture.

Trompenaars model of culture as a normal distribution from his article "The Meaning of Culture."