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!?

Our club has never cut swimmers before as we aren't that kind of club. Small town and not hugely competitive as we have v successful city of clubs within 30-40 minutes so kids tend to go there if v competitive. We usually take the ones culled from the big clubs or locals like us whose kids are good but dont want the big club pressure. Uncomfortable pool side atmosphere at moment.

@ealingwestmum - I know this is not our gcse thread, but I am definitely old enough to have done O Levels!!

Hello, I have been lurking for a while and love reading the updates from others! We're relatively new to club swimming - a year - so don't understand all of the lingo yet... My DS is 9 and has been doing really well during training in what is a really competitive squad. However, when it comes to galas and time trials, his times are poor within the squad - swimmers that really can't keep up with him in training (and seem exhausted) - just pull it out of the bag even on the longer distances. I'm hoping it will come?!

Welcome FossilNF! My swimmer didn't start competitively as early as yours, so I'll leave the answering to the more experienced parents on here, but just to say...

I am sure your DS's coach would much rather have great training discipline vs fast times at this point in his early swim career. Great training habits instilled early will lead him to perform strongly in good time...hang in there :)

FossilNF, my DS has been swimming competitively since the age of 9. He sounds similar to your DS in that he trained really well and kept up in the competitive squad against all of the top swimmers. However, when it came to racing, his times weren't anywhere near as good. He generally achieved County CT times whereas they were achieving Qualifying times. Obviously, as he got older, her started to become pretty frustrated and stressed out by it.

Last year, he only achieved (I say only as this is a highly competitive club) one Regional time and was moved into the less competitive squad. The slightly more relaxed attitude has been a huge boost to his confidence. A couple of times a week he swims with the competitive squad and still complains they mess around. However, guess what? Last weekend he swum at Counties and achieved 2 fantastic PBs and actually beat a couple of the so called Top swimmers! In the last 6 months, DS has had a massive growth spurt and is far stronger and more confident.

I actually think at their age a lot of it is to do with their body shape and strength. Right now your DS will be focusing on technique, whereas, for a lot of the other swimmers they rely on strength and speed to win races. In the long term your DS will be far better off. As he matures, his strength for racing will come and his technique will be far better than those who mess around now and rely on strength in races.

I hope I've made a bit of sense here!!

Thank you ealingwestmum - and you're right - the coaches don't seem to mind his times and are happy with progress.

Swimmum1206 - I love that your son is doing so well now - when I think about it, the others are bigger (not necessarily height but weight). I guess confidence goes a long way too and its true that there are some very strong personalities in the squad - so I guess we need to feed him up and keep telling him how well he is doing!

Hi and welcome, @FossilNF - just echoing what has been said elsewhere really. Development occurs at so many different stages - my DS was a good early swimmer but is very small, so he has been passed by a lot of his contemporaries. At 9, your DS should just be working on technique and improving within himself. A strong training performance will pay off in the end, but when you're only little that probably isn't much comfort! Is he gaining pbs when he swims? Progress isn't linear, but as long as he is improving gradually against his own swims then that is great, as he is making progress. Try and discourage him from comparing himself against others, as his only competition should be against himself. Hard to think about when you are only 9 but his time will come!

Welcome @FossilNF, good to have you poolside.

Swimming really is a long game- so much will change as they grow and develop physically! At this point, focusing on form is the important part- this stays with them during the changes ahead and is vital. For a while boys will differ hugely from skinny boys to beefy men, all in the same age-group. Technique will help a lot.

His PBs are coming down they just don't seem to tumble like other swimmers in the group.

Thank you everyone - I'll give him lots of words of encouragement!

Esther that's very much like ds club.

Welcome fossil. Echo what everyone else says. My ds coach says technique is more important than times because you can gain strength with age - it's much harder to improve technique when they've been doing it wrong for years!

It’s funny how different clubs are. DD is 10 and is moving up a squad. She’ll be the youngest by a year and it’ll be done over a few months. This will mean 3 swimming sessions totally 6 hrs and 1 hr of land training a week. No early mornings though until the next squad where they tend to be 13+ She’s excited but will have to drop some dance classes and is also nervous about being the youngest.

What are the age ranges of your particular squad? Our current squad covers 10-17 yr olds and the difference between the swimmers is obviously huge in terms of attitude, experience, stature, ability.....
I’m not totally convinced it will work (they’re trialling this new setup) but time will tell

Our top squad is 13 to 18 at moment but we have v few older end. Most are 15 and under. Second squad is 9 to 14.

Our top squad is around 14-18 just now. The second squad runs from 13- 16+. The 3rd where DD will join will be 10-14 when she joins. The 4th is a development one which is from 9 upwards and the 5th are predevelopment from about 7 upwards. None of these ages are set in stone though and movement is when the coaches think they can cope and are ready.

Hi all. Just checking in to wish you a good weekend. We have a 7am start tomorrow and 8am on Sunday (for a junior League gala). Only one session this Sunday, rather than two, so that’s a reason to celebrate!
@FossilNF DD is also 9 and has just moved into the competitive squad from development so is now swimming 4+ times a week. She’s teeny for her age and in her first gala she didn’t perform particularly well due to her nerves. A year later and - although she’s not grown at all - she’s lots stronger and managed to get 2x silver and 2x gold in her last gala. They do really develop at such different rates at this age.

It all varies so much doesn't it?! We're in the biggest club for our county but it's also our most local. I think we're one of the slower counties but we don't have many big clubs. Our squads are split into performance for the high achievers and competitive for the slower swimmers. DS is currently on the Competitive side but actually it's less pressure so we're happy with that. He's 12 and not yet hit puberty. Last year he qualified for 4 races at the Counties but managed 9 this year so back on form and is making fairly big gains in his times this season.

We have quite a few swimmers who compete at national and international levels. We have several squads so the age gaps tend to be smaller but last year the squad DS was in had everyone from 11 to 34!! It didn't work and they swapped it this year.

Our County champs start next weekend and are over 6 days altogether though 2 of those are long distance only so we only need to go to 4, fortunately as it means a trek to the other end of the County as we don't have a suitable competition pool in our town.

Good luck to all those swimming in the next few weeks.

Brrrrrr it's cold out!
This is when I struggle most with all the swimming. Constant de icing the car and going from cold to hot and cold again!
Don't think it helps that I go all day from warm classroom to freezing cold playground

We had a beautiful drive across a very white, frosty Somerset on Sunday (setting out in the moonlight and then watching the sun rise). It reminded us that we had to get through snow last year.

Back in the summer we invested in an insulated windscreen cover (£3.99 thank-you Lidl!) which is certainly earning its keep this week.

One of the biggest challenges at Counties, we find, is to keep the children fit and well after such long hours crammed into pool area with kids (and cold bugs) from far and wide. 5 more days to go for us!

Hey All! Counties starts for us this weekend, so I’m digging out my whites, the mountain of Tupperware and all the water bottles I can find.
Hope all goes well for all our swimmers this weekend.

Good luck counties everyone!

Good luck for all swimming this weekend.
We had counties last week (not ds) this week off and then following 2 weeks. Ds is the last week as that's 15+. But he's only in relay team - no individual times.

Good luck to everyone swimming this weekend!

@Madcats totally agree about keeping them healthy. I’ve been pre-loading DS with multi-vitamins this week, trying to ward off the bugs.

Thinking of you all with counties this weekend - good luck to your DC! We're still a couple of weeks away...

Good luck with Counties everyone.
Over here in Ireland we don't have a county level, too few clubs! It's regional development and qualifying galas season now for regionals in June and (hopefully age group nations in July). Main difference is that it's all long course for regional and nationals and times have to be done between 1 Jan and the events.
DD was sick last weekend and missed 6 events last weekend so now trying to squeeze in extra galas to try and bank times for her best events.