Swimming's Social Contract

The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution reads:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

One of the beauties of the US Federalist system is that it recognizes that individual communities (states), while part of the same nation, have the prerogative to express different preferences and priorities. For example, compare California, Nevada, Texas and Connecticut.

This morning's workout demonstrated a similar system in swimming. Our coach defined one simple goal for the workout - complete 50 x 100 yards of swimming. Each lane was then encouraged to determine how they would accomplish this and collaborate to complete the workout.

Lindsay's lane defined an intricate, even intriguing workout that combined varying strokes and intervals yet maintained a constant lane order. It was the product of grass-roots leadership. In Killer Quad terminology, they were "Mavericks"...or at least Californian. Our lane defined a consistent interval with rotating leadership. It was a moderate approach, not quite Blue State, but perhaps Ohio. Both Lindsay and I left the pool saying, "That was great!" And neither of us would have enjoyed the other's workout as much as our own.

And while I enjoyed my lane's traditional approach, I can see merit in the California approach to the Killer Quad. And I recognize that many new ideas start in California and filter east, so perhaps I should save a copy of the Lane 1 workout.

-Hammerhead