Poolside chat: Calling all parents of competitive swimmers!

[Marypoppins19]

I thought it might be helpful to share our highs/lows/questions/thoughts in one place. Who’s joining me!?

Well done to your son Esther that’s brilliant

Thank you 🙂

We’ve used Maru too and they’ve lasted well.

Quite a few of our club swimmers are at Ponds Forge today and tomorrow so will be watching live feed too.

@estherfrewen well done on the medals! That’s super swimming!! I hope he’s now enjoying his rest period.

Has anyone here got any experience of the Mark Foster one day swim camps? There is one near us in October half term and I was wondering if it was worth doing

@Eccle80 We didn't do a MF swim camp, but grandparents bought DD a (current medal-winning swimmer) swim day at a school famous for their swim stars. Complete waste of time - 8 in a 25m lane x 8, or is it 10. Some of the pushier kids might have benefitted. If it motivates them, great, but DD was underwhelmed aged 10/11.

I imagine the MF ones are better. It is a case of adult to student ratio and the quality of feedback.

We have done a couple of MF camps, DS enjoyed the first one but was less enthusiastic about the second one as he covered very similar things. The motivational speaker is interesting, but did pretty much the same talk both times.

We now use Maximum Performance camps as they offer more specific days- strokes, long course, videoed swimming etc. The costs are similar to MF.

If she hasn’t done a camp at all, it’s worth trying- beware of upselling of T-shirt’s, hoodies etc.

Thank you both, that is helpful. The MF ones talk about 2 groups of 30 with one land and one pool group at a time. DS is nearly 11, relatively inexperienced with just over 1.5 years at a small club, and currently trying to get county times

I will look out for upselling!

That would have been about the age DS was for his first MF camp, very similar in that he was at a small club and needed to broaden his horizons etc. The training may give a bit of a boost.

The team are friendly, there’s a chance for autographs etc, DS still has the photo I took of him and MF.

Belated congratulations to Esther - so many PB's!!!

Was coming on to say that Funkita and Yingfa seem good for DD. The only caveat is that the contrast shoulder straps on one Yingfa faded dreadfully (different material).

School uniform Speedo Endurance was good, but a cheap leg suit didn't fare well. Zoggs suddenly lost all the Lycra on her backside on the Sam session A young lad's jammers ballooned (luckily the waist elastic held up). I reckon we get about 3-9 months out of each with 2+ costumes on the go.

I just swill costumes around in some handwashing liquid. And leave them to dry over the bath or the airing cupboard.

QueenofLouisiana thank you, it potentially sounds like it might be good for him then, I will have a further look at it

Firstly, well done to the young Esther! Great! I can't wait till my DS wins his first medal! He will be the happiest boy on the planet!!

I'm really interested in the posts above about the swim camps! And having read them, I've had a quick look at the MF ones, but DS isn't old enough yet. I've also had a look at the Mel Marshall residential camps and they look brilliant! (especially as DS idolises Adam Peaty and currently loves breastroke!!) I think I'll send DS the summer after next when he turns 9 (if I think he'll manage the residential - seems a bit young for a whole week away, but I might think different by then!!) Just wondered if any of your children have been to the Mel Marshall camps?? Did they love it? How old were they when they went? What age do you think is best for the residential camps?

DS isn't old enough for residential or the MF 1 day camp yet, but next summer he'll be 8 and I'd love to send him on a day camp then as he is v v into his swimming at the moment and I think he would find a whole day of swims and talks on swimming amazing!! Does anyone know of any good day camps? That take 8 yr olds?

Thanks for any tips!

Hi, and thanks to everyone re the congrats 😀

My DS has done Swim Skills course and also Nick Gillingham course and 1-2-1. Nick Gillingham was fantastic. Not sure how much it helps long term as it is a tiny experience compared to 50 weeks a year of home training but he very much enjoyed them. Never done residential. He did swim skills at 8 but not sure they do them that young now. Would definitely recommend Nick Gillingham.

Great! Thanks for that! I'll look into Nick Gillingham! I'm not bothered about it making a difference to performance! It's more that I think DS would absolutely love the day :) (His second love is football! So I see this as perhaps the equivalent of a day trip to Manchester United or hearing talks from Harry Kane and having a kick about with super skilled football players! - although I expect that option would be waaay out of my budget!!)

Just had a quick look at the Nick Gillingham ones, they look great but I think DS a bit young! There's definitely a gap in the market for day camps aimed at the younger ones :) I'll look at swim skills ...

We did a private one with Nick Gillingham at Alnwick, that was definitely best thing we have done. Might be a bit far north for you?

Ah thanks! I'll look into private ones as pretty sure he'd love that. I'm going to make sure I have some kind of camp, whether its a private one or group, and whether it's a one day or a couple of days, for next summer, and a day with Nick Gillingham 1:1 may be the best bet! Thank you.

Have a look at your local boarding schools. it is probably too late for this year but some near us (Somerset) run non-residential week-long holiday 'camps'

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Can I join? My ds only started competitive swimming at 11.

He has muscular issues and they lost his classification application so had to re apply. Not happy as waiting list is already really long.

He's swam as part of club team in county relays and is provisionally part of team again.

We are in a county with hard times! He wants to move to wales and become welsh as he'd had smashed gold in their nationals 😂😂 (50 free)

We are at a small club but had 1 national swimmer and he won gold!

Oh and ds is 15 today. So up an age group next season and it'll be a challenge as some comps are 15+ age groups.

Welcome youarenotkiddingme. Yes there does seem to be a bit of variation in QT's between Regions and Counties. DD was commenting that she was pleased to live in SW, not SE, after comparing notes with another girl at camp

We seem to have a surprisingly empty term ahead of us, competition-wise ATM, but we've not been training much over the summer so the coach might have other plans!

We are south east!

Our county times are so very different to each of our neighbouring counties too. I think it's because we are larger also and it's due to having to limit numbers. Top 20 in a large county v a small one is going to vary a lot in times I Guess?

He actually is wrong about wales as a country. He'd perform better (again size) but still wouldn't be a top swimmer!

I just admire the whole lot of them regardless of achievement. It takes a lot of dedication to be a competitive swimmer and I don't think they get enough credit - people are very quick to moan negatively about teens though!

Hi @youarenotkiddingme it’s good to have you with us.

So, new season ahead- I hope that all your swimmers have a good one! May there be much improvement of strokes, startsnturns and some PBs along the way.

DS is moving to a new, larger, more challenging squad. It means a lot more travelling for practice, but we hope it will give him more opportunities to work with swimmers at a similar level of competition. Loved his last squad, but perhaps time to move on. Really hoping that we’ve made the right choice, DS is keen and understands the commitment that we are all making and that moaning about training will not go well!

I am meal planning like mad and looking at the routes needed to get to the new training venues.

Morning all! How far will you have to travel, Queen?

We are definitely back-pedalling for gcses this year. Will drop one of the early mornings to go down to 5, then probably drop an evening before Xmas as revision classes begin at school. He wants to go back to school asap to get this year over with! Hopefully will be able to revert back in Lower Sixth. We are quite a small club, so probably should be able to stay in top squad, but if not will have to move sideways until gcses over with. Going to be a looong year. He has already said he isn't swimming winter regionals in November as that is when mocks are and will cut out most comps this year.

Hello all - nice to see the old and some new faces.

Wish we were back pedalling esther. Circa 6 weeks off swimming here (longest EVER!) to try and land-build knee, as she wants to recover from last year's dire performance so will try and make 7 x. Let's see what happens, first session back last night with ease in 2 weeks ahead.

But in 17 yrs age category from Jan 20. Oh dear.

@estherfrewen we are travelling an hour each way, mainly on country roads- not great at 10pm or 5am! Still, the sessions this week went well. Long may it continue,