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!?

Hello...tentatively joining you. 7 year old DD is obsessed with swimming and has been selected for her school swim team. We are overseas and swimming is a big deal in this country - lots of interschool galas and meets. Am well impressed with her seeing as I can barely keep afloat and she is awesome - particularly at back stroke I'm told. So next week she starts going 2 hours per week, with the aim of building to 3.
We are actually moving back to the UK in 18 months when she will be 8.5. assuming she is still into this (I can't see it fading!) What do I do?! Contact a club? What sort of thing would we look into for her? Thanks experienced swim parents!

Hi @turkeyboots - hope your DD is feeling better !

Welcome @ploughingthrough - sounds like you have a very keen swimmer. I would check out any local clubs close to where you will be living and see what their websites say. Some clubs are more relaxed than others. Have a look at their gala results and training times and what age ranges they have etc. British Swimming have a website that will make you paranoid (!] by showing all swims for swimmers aged 8 plus so you can see a comparison - swimmingresults.org I think and then go on to rankings. I was never off that site when mine was younger...!

I was never off that site when mine was younger...!

Those were the days esther

So what is a typical trajectory? So DD is 7 now and will train for 2-3 hours per week in the Under 8 Development squad with her school. Meanwhile she will do occasional galas against other schools in Singapore. At what point does a child specialise in a stroke? Or don't they ever do this as kids?
When we return to the UK in June 2021 will I look also for a development squad, or do I just phone the nearest club and find out what they offer and take her for a trial?
Thanks! You're literally talking to someone with no idea - I'm a musician 😁

@ploughingthrough I would suggest just getting in touch with a nearby club and doing a trial with them, and they will then decide where to place her. She won’t be able to compete other than club championships until she turns 9.
Others more experienced might have further thoughts on specialization but I would say it would be a long time away for her, as they grow and develop things can change as to what stroke they do best at.

At the club DS swims with, they don’t expect anyone to specialise in a stroke until they are at least 13. The criteria for staying in the more competitive squads is 2 County QT in 3 different strokes and 2 different distances.. once they get to 13 it’s 2 Regional times, but can be in the same stroke.

There isn’t really a typical trajectory as they all develop at different stages. My DS started at six swimming three times a week and was very good early, medalling at counties, regionals and home nations. At just 16 he is now not that competitive as he is very small and won’t grow any more looking at the rest of the family! Some of his contemporaries now who make British Nationals etc didn’t start swimming competitively until age 11 or 12.

Some clubs do mini meets age . Can do club champs at any age. Proper competition starts at 9. Specialisms doesn’t really begin until 14 plus or more. Check out club websites and see what they have. They vary vastly.

Thanks all appreciate your knowledge and experience! For now I'll just carry on haemorrhaging money on hats, goggles and swimming costumes and see where she goes with it!

Just wait til the demands for race suits start. I needed to replace DDs recently as she'd grown and it was getting v transparent. She liked the £350 one, and we settled on a £200 one.

Not really any expected trajectory as growth etc all happens at different ages.

Girls do tend to develop earlier than boys because they go through puberty earlier. However they also then have the issue of missing training due to periods if they aren't able to use the right san pro to swim and also that first year or so where their iron levels fluctuate. I've seen many of our girls nearly give up due to it (because they've platued ) but they do come through the other side.

My ds didn't really do well until 13/14 and he's only 15 now and not that amazing. He's also only 5"9 and some of the 14yo are 6"+.

I agree that find a local club. See which type of environment she wants and will thrive in. Some are extremely competitive and others not so. They will assess her and place her in the correct group and she'll develop through squads dependent on her criteria.

Ah to be 5’9”.... we can only dream. 😀🏊🏻‍♂️

I think it’s a shame they don’t compete in height bands! My husband is 5’9” and we have 13 year old girls in our squad who are taller than him. Sadly DS is 5’6” and I think his growing is done. Makes me glad he started when so young.

Start of counties tomorrow for us. Bags are packed food all sorted. Not expecting much as at the moment DD is swimming like she is dragging a bus behind her.

Best of luck, @wearegoingtoneedabiggerboat

Welcome @ploughingthrough it’s good to have you with us!

@Wearegoingtoneedabiggerboat I hope it goes well. We are on weekend 2 of counties, I’m officiating all weekend, so will have toned calves from stepping up to the pool for hours on end.

Good luck all those in counties this weekend.

We are 2nd week but ds doesn't compete until next weekend.

Ds did his first ever T20 last night. Never done the timed swim as many lengths as you can before as only top squad do it and he's only bridging to it. He did 54 lengths. Most of it (at least first half) he just did pull as was worried his legs wouldn't hold out!

A slightly belated welcome to @ploughingthrough. I really wouldn't let your child specialise in a stroke until they are early teens. It is fine to have a favourite, but they should compete in all plus individual medley.
My backstroker is definitely more likely to be a freestyler now she competes as U13.

@Wearegoingtoneedabiggerboat I sympathise with you (we had that for our first week of Counties - so frustrating). I don't think DD competes enough to be able to switch into "race mode" as successfully as she should. She is still only 12 though. We ask a lot of our kids.

Can I thank Queen for her officiating. I find it hard enough to stand still for an hour of warm-up marshalling! My swim volunteer skills lie in dishing out medals, collecting cash and screaming at kids to swim clockwise in lane 3 please.

At the risk of getting a bit swim geeky I noticed some kids were attempting "backstroke to breaststroke crossover" turns in the IM yesterday (as opposed to back somersault). It was prompting a fair bit of discussion between officials (there are quite a lot of trainees buddying up/getting experience)...some turns definitely looked iffy from the spectator's bench.

Thank you for the welcome and your advice on the strokes. DD has her first early morning training session tomorrow - looking forward to that bleary eyed experience :-) She's really excited so I'm really pleased she's found this hobby and skill.

@Madcats - those turns can look extremely dodgy ....! My DS is quicker turning that way but always worries he will get DQd so rarely does it in competition. He felt very sad this weekend at missing counties - especially as his weekend involved 7 hours of revision instead. Hope everyone had a good counties.

DS was a breaststroker until he was about 12, then IM and for last two years backstroke.

@ploughingthrough - ah that first early morning.... enjoy !

Aw, enjoy the excitement plough, I remember when DD used to look forward to her early mornings with her young car pool pals though it was more the post swim Maccie D hash browns on the way to school

esther: good luck with round 2 of mocks. Your poor DS - one set was enough here. He sounds really dedicated though to both his swimming and academics.

Hope the counties went well Queen! Week 1 for us this coming weekend - and I cannot officiate poolside either for medial reasons but take my hat off to those that do. Years of volunteering back office is done now too, thankfully.

This is probably a really obvious question, but wondering if anyone could explain! I was just looking at the qualifying times for the East Region Summer Meet and noticed there is an L time and Q time. What does this mean???

Took some digging around Swimmum but the explanation is below - I believe this is due to the change in qualifying window rules for Nationals/SE being brought forward this year...

Limit times set 1/100th slower than May 2020 times. Qualifying times based broadly on the 25th performance in the same qualifying period last year for all events.

www.eastswimming.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2020-Swim-England-East-Region-Long-Course-Championships-Guidance-Notes.pdf

@Swimmum1206

Apologies - I am dreadful at notifying posters properly.

I'm doing early morning tomorrow too plough sending empathetic vibes we've been doing it for a while though. I don't like it when it's cold!

Also when I'm full of cold like I am now.

My ds has a second round of mocks to do as well. So far he is balancing school and swimming well. But he knows swimming goes before the revision doesn't get done 😂😂

Ah, wasn’t sure if your DS was Y10 or Y11 itsgettingweird...best of luck on round 2!

DD is going to try and juggle both. But revision will not kick in properly again until after half term. And her Easter suitcase to swim camp for a week will need to be full books and sun cream. She says it’s all under control, and I know the coaches will make them work, so I’m not going to worry. Yet.