Tampa Bay Aquatics

10. That First Big Event – Whether it’s the 400 IM, the 200 fly or the mile, there’s always that event that has swimmers shaking in their boots when they do it for the first time. Once they pull it off, though, they realize it was easier than they thought.

9. Diving in for Morning Workout – That first brisk plunge is all you need to wake yourself up at 6 a.m.… if only you can throw yourself in.

8. Keeping Your Goggles on while Diving In – At any given meet, you’ll see countless age groupers swimming the 50 free with goggles around their necks. Heck, even some senior swimmers have problems with this one.

7. The Flip Turn – Think about the first time you tried a flip turn. You were probably either too close to the wall, or too far, and it took weeks of practice to do it right every time. Even today, you probably still miss walls and get water up your nose from time to time.

6. The Breaststroke – Who hasn’t been disqualified in the breaststroke? This stroke has about a million little rules to remember and requires a great deal of timing and coordination – no wonder all the top breaststrokers are such specialists.

5. Pacing – Whether it’s the 200 or the 1,000 free, pacing is the key to the race. Unfortunately it sometimes takes people their entire careers to finally get it exactly where they want it.

4. Making the U.S. Olympic Team – Of about 250,000 athletes registered with USA Swimming each year, only a maximum of 52 (26 men and 26 women) are chosen every four years.

3. Winning an Olympic Gold Medal – Of the millions of swimmers in the world, you have to be the best swimmer in your event on that given day. But hey, somebody has to win it.

2. Breaking a World Record – How tough is this one? Only three American men (Lenny Krayzelburg, Aaron Peirsol and Michael Phelps) and two American women (Janet Evans and Natalie Coughlin) currently hold individual long course world records.

1. Make a National Cut in Every Event – Only a handful of American swimmers in the history of the sport have been able to do this.