Competitive Swimming

No - around age 13 is a big drop out point regardless of how much training these kids are doing, whether that’s a mix of morning and evening / weekend sessions or just evening / weekend sessions.

It’s usually not the case that those doing morning sessions are doing more hours, they are often doing the same amount of training hours but clubs have to use early morning slots due to limited pool time availability.

My point is also that it’s a particular issue with girls (puberty), hence a dedicated squad specifically focussed on girls and their needs, which was an NGB initiative to retain talented female athletes.

Isn’t that exactly what she’s saying that the ones who train very hard young are more likely to drop out? The problem is that they have to maintain the level of training or they get slower. If you do less when younger you can improve to 13 without trying that hard in reality. Most of them arent and will never be county let alone national champions.

At least among the London clubs I am familiar with, those early morning sessions tend to start only around age 13+ for the county level swimmers and above, not for the beginner squads.

That’s interesting i’d always assumed the madness on these threads was London due to more pool pressure than elsewhere making clubs harder to get into and sane training slots difficult to get. Your experience sounds exactly like mine.

children who start so early with morning sessions most of the times drop out just when they need to start intensifying their training (i.e. 13 years old)

Children often drop out at 13 regardless of training session times - secondary school studies, puberty, other sports or hobby commitments, not wanting to commit to the hours required to be competitive.

It’s a well known issue, particularly for girls (our club used to have a specific squad for girls aged 11-15 aimed at retaining them in the sport - and these were girls that were national champions).

I don’t think that’s normal at all…

I am frequently baffled by the accounts people on mumsnet give re competitive swimming.

Our younger swimmers don’t have a specific attendance requirement so I just wouldn’t go if it didn’t work. Dd2 is 10 and has never been to a morning session.

Is there another club that’s closer to you? An hour is lot. For morning sessions dd1 gets up 30 minutes before it starts and we are 15 minutes away. Everything prepped previous night etc. FWIW she has a morning session on Sat and we’ve never been 😂😂

Absolutely, it might be normal in current times but it does not mean that it brings any result. As Jins' DS1 experience demonstrates, children who start so early with morning sessions most of the times drop out just when they need to start intensifying their training (i.e. 13 years old).

Seems normal to me as well. DS1 did 2 x 6am sessions during the week, one 4-6 swim and gym session and both Saturday and Sunday plus completions. He gave up when he went to high school as he’d hit a bit of a wall and more importantly had stopped enjoying swimming. I was quite relieved but if he’d wanted to continue I’d have supported it.

My DD is 9 - almost 10 and she is in a Junior squad achieving county times. She swims 2 mornings per week for 1 hour each and has been doing so since she was 9 and a few months. (also swims 3 evenings totalling another 3.5 hours). This is totally normal for many clubs in our area. She enjoys the mornings.

I’m familiar with quite a few Scottish clubs, and the beginner squads often had at least one morning session a week - a function of catchment area, school pools and the idea amongst (at least some) coaches that morning sessions were more productive in terms of training.

I don't agree that it is normal for someone just starting out at a swimming club. At least among the London clubs I am familiar with, those early morning sessions tend to start only around age 13+ for the county level swimmers and above, not for the beginner squads.

That's my experience too, across a number of different clubs.

No great swimmer in history has ever attended such lessons until at least 11 years old.

I think you’ll find at least one early morning session is not unusual for the junior squads. It’s often determined by pool time availability. I can guarantee many top swimmers were doing early morning sessions way before the age of 11.

Following this thread a bit late as my daughter has just started in a squad ( 8 years old) and we have voluntarily avoided the offer of her previous club as it meant very early morning sessions. Absolutely no need to put such pressure on children this age, there is no benefit at all, actually only cons. No great swimmer in history has ever attended such lessons until at least 11 years old.

I always used to think swimmers just loved getting up early - took me a long time to work out it was just when the pool is free!

Yes this will happen & only get worse - my daughter has to be in the pool which is a 20 min drive away by 5.40am, so getting up at 4.55am 4 times a week. Plus evenings after school.
It’s not for the faint-hearted…she didn’t do earlies til she was in year 6 though (so age 10 - not sure it’s worth it much before then)

Yes perfectly normal. We had 2 x 5am starts and 1 x 4.45 am starts for DS along with three evenings. Had to do minimum two early swims. This was age 11 plus. I think previous squad of age 8 to 11 was 2 x 6 am and 1 x 4.45 am. It was all down to what pool time the club could get.

Normal unfortunately! My 9 year old is into it and we have three evenings and one early morning. She loves it and is very committed - if she wasn't you can bet your bottom dollar I wouldn't be encouraging it! It's a time intensive sport at competitive level.

I think the fact that your child is a beginner means that it’s a bit unreasonable to have a session that early (although I know it will be to do with pool availability.).

DD (11) does 2x 6am swims on weekdays (and an 8am on a Saturday ) but she is swimming at a regional level and does a total of 12 hours a week at least. She didn’t do early mornings until she got to the top junior squad.

I don't agree that it is normal for someone just starting out at a swimming club. At least among the London clubs I am familiar with, those early morning sessions tend to start only around age 13+ for the county level swimmers and above, not for the beginner squads. Historically, the early morning sessions are necessary at the higher levels so that swimmers can get enough hours training in the pool, but it really isn't required for those just doing 3-4 hours per week.

I suspect in your club's case it is simply a case of pooltime available. Lots of clubs are struggling to get pool time and they have to take what they can get. Mine is 11 and swims 5 hours per week (over 4 sessions), I certainly wouldn't attend a 6am session with her at this stage. If she was 14 and we were trying to reach national level, I know we'd have to commit to it, but I really don't see the benefit in your case.

I would check if there are other swimming clubs with a better schedule.

@Precipice the title of the thread is literally competitive swimming so think people have made the correction assumption it’s competitive.

My DS swims late 5 nights a week and isn’t home until 10PM so at that age I declined the early starts. He was too young for that little sleep. He’s now 13 so needs less sleep so we might pick up a couple of mornings

In my experience, coaches aren’t keen for early morning sessions to be dropped unless you’re brand new into it, in which case you may get leeway for a few weeks. I can’t think that any coach would let you come in for just the second hour either. Some squads may allow you to drop one session a week, but ultimately there will always be at least one early morning.

Competitive swimmers are expected to put the hours in, and part of that commitment is early morning sessions.

Once you get up to full on competitions you’ll find it involves long days - swimmers have to be fit and both swimmers and parents need stamina.

Aww.. that's tough! My 9 year old has a 5:30 start mid week, rising to a couple more mornings when he's 10. If she's new with other sessions to go to, I'd get her used to attending all the other sessions for a bit and leave the morning. When she's ready, if she wants to commit, she can add the sat mornings. Her coach will likely be fine with this if you ask them? I'd be surprised if they are expecting her to attend every training session from day 1(?)

I should say you do get used to it although you should reserve the right to have an early afternoon nana nap if needs be.

We’ve got 3 early morning starts (two 5.30 one 6.45 - which at this point starts to feel acceptable). Plus several 9pm finishes.

This is what competitive swimming training is like, unfortunately. There are loads of 10 year olds doing similar hours.

It is hideous.

My DCs have one of those, it’s vile. The club didn’t have a choice in that pool time and as it’s run by volunteers they get up at that time too. It’s really only the kids who are very keen that go to the early sessions, others just go to the other sessions.

Either miss that session out or ask if you can go for the second hour (I’m assuming it’s a 2hr swim).

I think there's some confusion in this thread (right down from OP) about what the daughter is actually doing. She just joined the swim club? That's not the same as doing competitive swimming. Club swimmers represent the club (some also on higher levels) and take part in competitions, but there are also always loads of swimmers who are part of the club, go to training sessions and do not swim competitively.

Silly to suggest daughter cannot be part of the club and use this as a way to develop swimming technique/speed (having either already moved beyond pool class level or approaching it), because of one inconvenient session slot.

But it's not unreasonable for the club to schedule the session like this - they're limited by what slots they can get from the pool anyway.

If you don't like the hours, then now is the time to stop. I swam for a local team when I was younger but some of the people in the team also swam for our city - they were regularly training at 6.30 before school (not sure how many days a week) , as well as our teams training two nights a week.