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!?

Oh my word, that’s dedication! Am seriously impressed. We are only five minutes across town and that’s an effort sometimes...!

Season started slowly here! Ds has a genetic disorder causing neuromuscular issues and has spasticity in his muscles.
He had a pain in his back when on holiday one evening which then spread round to opposite rib/chest and now is up in shoulder.
So although missed a week on holiday we have gone back very slowly.
Still not at full pelt but has league gala this weekend.

Also year 11 here too. He doesn't swim tuesdays or Thursdays but has revision class Tuesday after school and also drama rehearsals until at least November on a Thursday. So at school until 4.15/4.30.

Swimming is then mon (2 hrs), weds am and pm (1 hr each session), Friday (1 hr), sat am (1hr) and Sunday (2 hrs).

I think he may end up dropping something if more revision sessions come up. But I'm also thinking school revision probably counts instead of home revision rather than expected to do both.
And weekends at meets are ideal times to get plenty of revision in!

We are 15-20 minutes drive from pool and also a small club.

Nightmare drive today- started with bus/ hgv/ rural roads, ended with a squirrel running out in front of me and had a rolling road block in the middle! I was ready to abandon training and pop in to a pub for a swift pint instead! (Lighthearted- I don’t drink and drive!)
To top it off- my carefully planned meal organisation was ruined when I plugged in the stick blender not the slow cooker. Funnily enough, the roast chicken was still stone cold. 🙄
Still, the car journeys are good for chats with teens- I’m learning a lot about gaming, memes and why he prefers girls who don’t wear make-up.

Slow start sounds v sensible, youarenotkidding me. Your year 11 plan sounds like ours. We have mocks before half term so pressure going up now. At the moment we swim Monday pm, Tuesday am and maths tutor pm, swim Wednesday and Thursday pm, Friday and Saturday am. Sessions are 2.5 hours and morning sessions are 5am. Coach isn't happy about missing sessions or at all sympathetic re school work. We are dropping Friday morning for now and will drop more if needed. That runs a big risk of getting moved to non competitive side even though he gets a dozen regional times and home nations.... I just want to keep him swimming ad revising and happy so will see what happens there...

Queen - what a nightmare journey! It is a good time to talk though. Ours sound like they like similar types of girls!! They have to be really sporty too for my DS. Not that he has time for a girlfriend....

It must be really hard juggling training and GCSEs, especially with an unsympathetic coach. I hope it all goes well for them.

And hope the next journey is a better one Queen

DS is desperate to get his first county time in something over the next 3 months. He isn’t far off in a couple of events, but deep down I suspect he probably won’t manage to improve his times enough within the window. It doesn’t help that his friends with similar times in the same events probably will do it as a late autumn birthday means he is a different age group. Any advice on being encouraging and supportive whilst managing expectations would be appreciated!

Most coaches promote the benefits of maintaining your sport during times of academic pressure. This includes DD's school that is heavy on extra curricula.

However, the reality is that DC are individuals, and one mantra does not suit all. And having the extra threat of a student losing their squad place just adds to their stress levels, especially when the pull back could just be short term.

I think parents of swimmers need to just keep a close eye on their own swimmer's management of stuff, and try not to get sucked into comparing with other DC who appear (on the outside at least), to cope without dropping sessions.

Queen, hope that journey was a one off and it gets easier for you, though I know we are entering the dark winter months! And esther, hope your boy's coach is just acting out to retain his attendance as we get into the final GCSE period!

And yes to the chats in the car. They are SO important for all the download/gossip!

Yes I think something will have to give this week due to the amount of homework and imminent mocks.

So nice to have a place to chat about these things!

And I apologise for being assuming gender of a club coach, not intentional. The worst we have experienced to date for undue pressure and belittling swimmers like my DD by comparing them to younger, innately talented swimmers was in fact a female head coach!

Our current one is lovely. Assertive but gets older teenagers going through this juggling, and back out the other end.

Our head coach is female too !

Eccle80 - I think at a younger age it is all about small steps - any kind of pb needs celebrating and it is hard when you have a late birthday but it is important not to try and let the age at the end of the year thing become over-important and I appreciate that is much easier said than done... The other thing I always found annoying was what when you look at different counties and see what their qts are like compared to your own county!

Even if no pb, encourage him to think "well my turns were much better" or "my dive is improving". Sometimes there will be months when nothing much happens or they feel as though they are going backwards but if often is a growth spurt or a change in technique. My son was hopeless at fly when little - really terrible - and it took years for him to mature and now it is possibly his best stroke. Just stick with it and play the long game. Not easy I know when they're small! A boy in our club took years to get his first county time and even longer for his first regional time. Eighteen this year and he has all county times possible and about twelve regional ones. Most of his contemporaries in the club have quit. As Finding Nemo says, just keep swimming!

Re: the swimmers who take longer to get county times etc.
Look at Adam Peaty (I’ve attached a photo in case, like me, you like to spend time looking at Adam Peaty ). Not a regional swimmer until about 15, not picked up by British Swimming talent until late teens. I’m going to suggest it hasn’t harmed his progress.

Or just enjoy the photo- as you wish....

Thank you QueenofLouisiana ! That will be very inspiring for my boys. They are both quite young at the moment but county times are the goal this season.

Thank you both, really sensible advice and Adam Peaty is good motivation! I’m trying to encourage him to focus on getting everything right and not overthinking the time

My ds definitely doesn't know what level he's competing at.
He has a neuromuscular disorder and we are going through para classification application now. He may or may not be a para swimmer and if he is will be S10 (poss S9?).
But there a 15 point gap between non para and S10. So if he loses 14 points he has to remain mainstream (for want if a better word) but will never have the same ability as those his age.
If he was classified as S10 he'd be competing home nations and probably British champs for some strokes and based on this year would be getting into finals and possibly medalling.

We have more competitive clubs locally who insist on training - no excuses or switching to swim fit.
Our club isn't like that (But has less regional and home nation swimmers). We did have a national gold medalist this year though!

The fact that DD accidentally woke herself up and started crashing around at 5:30am this morning instead of her planned 6:30am made me realise that I probably don't want to be up, out and functioning as a human being at that time of day three times/week! We are sticking with our small, friendly club at the moment.

I hope the drive improves for Queen.

Eccle in those early years, many of the "faster' swimmers will be getting better times by virtue of brute force, competitive spirit and longer limbs. It might not dawn on them that they need to improve their technique because they will be getting medals aged 10, 11, 12, 13 - it is just their parents and coach nagging. By then they are at risk of having some really bad habits ingrained if the coaches haven't intervened. I think it must be quite hard for the children that are suddenly overtaken by their once smaller peers.

I've been watching a 14 year old boy begin to zoom ahead now he's finally having his growth spurt.

Eccle and Gnasher hope your DC get their first County Times soon (so exciting for them - and then there's the Hoodie!). In Somerset there is a bit of a mad rush around Christmas time as everybody has one last go before the qualification window closes.

Not that we know what our QT's are going to be for all the events, so I think we are just going to aim for a couple of Regional Times next month and hope we can sort the slower strokes the other side of half term.

Our times are out.
Ds has a LC meet in a few weeks. He's 0.83 secs off 1 consideration time and 1.5 off another. He only does sprints due to muscles.
He hasn't swam them LC for about 6 months so it should give us a guide of what he needs to do the next 4 months!

And yes - the hoodie! Ds wears his all the time and will be in relay teams again so he's already planning on what colour to get this year

Just had a nose at Somerset's times for interest. Didn't realise there is so much difference between counties
Ds has 6 times for somerset. Doesn't even have a consideration time for our county!

I realise it alls evens out once you get to regionals and definitely home nations. I am just surprised at the difference despite other parents saying ours are tough compared to other areas.

Hi all,

How do you all manage your kids hair??

My daughter is 8 and swim 4/5 times a week. Her hair is rubbish, grows slowly and is bleached. Frequently get asked if I’ve dyed her hair.

We use after swimming shampoo, conditioner and leave in conditioner but no improvement. She showers immediately after sessions and wears her cap most of the time.

Any suggestions?

A lot of it is down to the individual child's hair . DD had very fine, brittle, slightly curly hair at that age. 4 years on it seems a lot stronger.

She tends to have her hair in a bun most days. She uses industrial quantities of Child's Farm detangler spray on wet and dry hair and l'Occitane shampoo designed for "brittle and damaged hair". I'm not sure she shampoos after every shower.

Once in a while I'll make her sit with a hair mask for 10 minutes.

How’s it going? We seem to be on last chance saloon for winter regionals this weekend. I think we’ve got about 10 days before the entries are due in. DS has a few this year, unlikely to get any more now.

The training at his new club is tough going, but it’s great to watch him getting his interest back. He’s spent the last year chasing a goal in a sport he wasn’t enjoying, so it’s nice to see him remembering that he might quite like swimming after all! As I guess alway happens with a new coach, bits are slowly being pulled apart to be rebuilt- hopefully better and stronger. This coach is very big on technique (great! This is one of the things we moved for), so it was interesting to see how that was panning out in competition today.

So, just for fun: You know they swimming season has started again when......

You find yourself making pots of pasta salad at 7am. Any more suggestions?

Oooh, good one:

You know swimming season has started again when you are constantly writing cheques for gala entries ...!

He's got a dozen winter regional times i think but they clash with mocks this year (why mocks in October?? A whole other thread) so not sure if he's going to swim them or not. He's the younger end of open age so no chance of finals. He's competing this weekend in a small gala but not really on form as he's not actually trained that much over the last few weeks. Swimming definitely on the back burner at the moment. Sat with revision books poolside...!

Nice that's he is getting the interest back, Queen and technique input is great. We have very little of that ... !

You know they swimming season has started again when......

• Your shopping trolley is full with pain killer meds
• Your dog is looking at you sleepily with a 'huh, but I'M supposed to wake YOU, not the other way around"!
• You panic each time you see your DD "slip" herself out of her racing costume arms expecting a cha-ching bill of £300 replacement cost to replace it

Welcome back everyone!

Well after mediocre Saturday he had an excellent Sunday with 4/4 pbs. Last gala for a while but loads of club champs coming up. Year 11 is proving even harder to combine with swimming than we thought. Roll on half term..