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!?

Hoping your pools can stay open. We are under a higher level of restriction here now and can have max 4 in a lane. Plus side is as no swim lessons we have "borrowed" their after school slots so have no morning sessions till Nov at least!

Will do. Thank you.

Hi to the new squad parents! DS now pretty much recovered from Covid and back in the water but as training is 5x early mornings only for top squad he had taken the decision to move to Club squad instead and will swim 2x early mornings and 2x evenings. It is too much otherwise along with starting A Levels and especially as by the time proper competition comes round again he will be end of year 12. He celebrated 10 years in the squad last September- started at 6.5!!

Great efforts by your swim son (and you parents of course!). 10 years! You all deserve the extra mornings in bed 😆

Thanks @WidowTwonky- we have definitely been there, bought the t-shirt, the polo shirt, the hoodie, at least 5 kick boards and more water bottles than a non swimmer can possibly imagine. He is definitely enjoying the relaxed version of swimming and wants to carry on so he can swim at Uni. Post COVID was a bit of a wake up call. We know two swimmers at club who had to quit at A level time after glandular fever struck so didn’t want any post viral issues.

He’s done so well Esther to manage his swim career through the ups and downs, and yes to them swimming into their higher Ed years. At DD’s club she is seeing many of the seniors coming into better form later in life. There’s a real defined split between those that were young, innate swimmers and those that had to plough through with less success on the competitive side. She’s hoping she’ll be in the latter if we can get through this year managing injuries in the mix. And of course studies

She’s completing her level 1 this today; and works PT at a swim school. At a time when teenage jobs may be scarce, she is managing to supplement her social life/savings with a job that helps to give back to teaching younger swimmers, after so many years investment (and pain)!

Morning @ealingwestmum! We are trying to find courses for DS for lifeguard etc but very difficult at the moment. That’s great your DD is doing that as jobs so hard for teens at the moment. How’s her shoulder doing? usually this week we are in Sunderland for winter regionals - so strange not to be sat in the swimming pool cafe for 8 hours....! Last night he got to swim an extra set with Masters unofficially which he really enjoyed. 3 of his old coaches were there.

Hey Esther; like your son, I think she would have gone for lifeguarding pre pandemic but those training opportunities seem to be lower priority to revive. Hopefully there will be more available nearer summer 21; I did push her to do the online level 1 when 1st lockdown hit to offset lifeguarding.

Imaging scheduled this coming week on shoulder. It is costing an absolute fortune, but, I cannot bear the burdening on the NHS for non essential referral, and osteo work has not helped. And she rested for 5 months. Most practitioners/GPs would say maybe it’s time to consider giving up; do less etc etc (she plays the violin too which is not helpful), so psychologically a sport physician helps, even if it’s a little bit of hope that it can get resolved. Somewhere down the line.

I don’t mean to pour negativity on the parents here with younger swimmers, but this is the downside of any sport with repetitive activity. But I believe both Esther and I are huge advocates of the wider ‘non swimming’ benefits swimming brings; especially for those that stick through the challenging periods, even if how much they swim/compete remains fluid.

Definitely @ealingwestmum - swimming positives outweigh swimming negatives- DS has always struggled with dodgy knees, wrist sprain when kicked as he tried to overtake, twisted ankle, and a chlorine allergy...! I am glad he started young as he achieved a lot up to about 13 when he stopped growing and others carried on but he will always have county, regional and home nation medals to look back on. It has come to a natural competitive end for him but was worth the journey.

Hope the imaging goes well. Shoulder issues seem a real issue with a few at our club too. What’s her favourite stroke/distance?

She started swim life as a breast stroker until bad knee ended what was a promising few competitive years. Recently reverted to back. I will laugh if she ends her swim career doing what she hated most when younger...fly!

Sounds like a similar trajectory of strokes as my DS @ealingwestmum. He had issues with knees and used to have recurrent dislocations when younger. Grown out of it now but his breaststroke never really came back - he was really good when he was younger. Prefers back or fly now. Never liked front crawl much.

Is anyone's club taking part in the competition X thingy or whatever it is called?

Yes esther our club is joining phase 1 of level x. Really looking forward to getting back into it. My swim son is entered into 9 events which is what our club advised for his squad

My son got in! We're feeling rather excited! He will apparently be the youngest swimmer in his squad. I asked if he should continue Aqua Challenge concurrently and the lady said they don't recommend it because they "train swim school out of them". I will take the advice because I can't afford both anyway! But I am curious as to what the lady meant...?

That’s great news @Helenjohanna ! Welcome to the strange world of competitive swimming! Squads are a lot different really to swimming lessons - the emphasis in learning to swim is staying above water but the coaching side is how to swim quickly and efficiently. It is like the difference between jogging and being an athlete. Competitive breaststroke for instance is a very different thing to swim school breaststroke and your son’s age is a good one to start as most of his learning will be done from a coach with a competitive emphasis. He will learn technique which will bring speed as opposed to thrashing the water to a foam which will only take you so far! It is a long journey and there will be ups and downs but it will be worth it. Keep it fun as long as possible, don’t get too caught up with other kids times and how they are doing. Basically avoid every trap I fell into when my DS started 😀! Mine was 6.5 and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t as fast as the big kids ie the 8/9 year olds and he used to get very upset and cry but his coach was very understanding and said DS crying made him upset as a coach and that one day he would be just as fast. Generally at this age they will improve quickly but there will also be times when it feels like a slog and nothing goes right but when it does, it is great. He will make lots of good friends and hopefully have a lot of fun.

@WidowTwonky - we have done some sprints already for the level x as we were a trial club and doing them again soon I think. They will do all strokes all distances but not sure if DS will bother now he has moved out of top squad. We only have morning swims so not sure his 5.00am swims will be worth timing!

We are paying per event so glad to be limited to 9 😆

Paying??! Wow! DS definitely wouldnt be swimming then in that case !!

Fundraising I guess in lieu of galas

Actually it does make sense. We have quite a lot on funds in our club luckily so not charging

@estherfrewen

That’s great news *@Helenjohanna* ! Welcome to the strange world of competitive swimming! Squads are a lot different really to swimming lessons - the emphasis in learning to swim is staying above water but the coaching side is how to swim quickly and efficiently. It is like the difference between jogging and being an athlete. Competitive breaststroke for instance is a very different thing to swim school breaststroke and your son’s age is a good one to start as most of his learning will be done from a coach with a competitive emphasis. He will learn technique which will bring speed as opposed to thrashing the water to a foam which will only take you so far! It is a long journey and there will be ups and downs but it will be worth it. Keep it fun as long as possible, don’t get too caught up with other kids times and how they are doing. Basically avoid every trap I fell into when my DS started 😀! Mine was 6.5 and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t as fast as the big kids ie the 8/9 year olds and he used to get very upset and cry but his coach was very understanding and said DS crying made him upset as a coach and that one day he would be just as fast. Generally at this age they will improve quickly but there will also be times when it feels like a slog and nothing goes right but when it does, it is great. He will make lots of good friends and hopefully have a lot of fun.

@WidowTwonky - we have done some sprints already for the level x as we were a trial club and doing them again soon I think. They will do all strokes all distances but not sure if DS will bother now he has moved out of top squad. We only have morning swims so not sure his 5.00am swims will be worth timing!

This is a nice message - thank you! I’m not planning to put any pressure on DS at all, and I hope he doesn’t put pressure on himself. Obviously an anticipated lockdown might stop everything in its tracks anyway, but as things stand, I’m planning to let him to one more Aqua Challenge class on Monday, and then cancel his swimming lessons and do Swimming Club exclusively. I feel rather excited about it. He shot through the stages pretty quickly and has stormed ahead of his friends at school. He seems to be natural at it and he will enjoy the competitive element later on. I think it’s a healthy hobby for him to have - a positive focus.

It's a great hobby @Helenjohanna - one thing my DS definitely learned was how to prioritise school work so that he could swim - it improves their time management skills no end. And at your DS's age things like working out a time clock as to when to start, counting lengths for friends, working out heart rates when it comes round to that is really good for maths skills, mixing with older kids and learning how to win and lose well - all important. I think one of my proudest moments was when my DS and his friend - both 9 - were swimming their first competitive 200 IM in lanes next to each other and when they finished first and second (DS was second) they both shook hands over the lane ropes and said well done to each other as they had qualified for counties. Brought a tear to my eye!

Even if lockdown happens again today at least your DS has years of swimming in front of him. Mine is holding out for swimming at Uni now instead!

@estherfrewen

It's a great hobby *@Helenjohanna* - one thing my DS definitely learned was how to prioritise school work so that he could swim - it improves their time management skills no end. And at your DS's age things like working out a time clock as to when to start, counting lengths for friends, working out heart rates when it comes round to that is really good for maths skills, mixing with older kids and learning how to win and lose well - all important. I think one of my proudest moments was when my DS and his friend - both 9 - were swimming their first competitive 200 IM in lanes next to each other and when they finished first and second (DS was second) they both shook hands over the lane ropes and said well done to each other as they had qualified for counties. Brought a tear to my eye!

Even if lockdown happens again today at least your DS has years of swimming in front of him. Mine is holding out for swimming at Uni now instead!

How lovely!

Hope that all our swimmers aren't too downcast at yesterday's announcement. Tuesday will be their last swim for....who knows!

We would really have struggled to compete in swim X. Our pools just can't justify staying open into the late evenings (absolutely no chance of early mornings either) and I can't help thinking that it wold be counter-productive for the kids to see that they are so below PBs from January.

At least the BBC has put some of the ISL matches on the TV.

@Madcats - I agree re the level x. Some of our younger ones have been v upset over their times, swum at 0530 as that is only available time. I think when some clubs are back fully or almost fully, others hardly at all and everything in between it is actually dispiriting and clubs would be better off getting them fit and working on technique. We have barely any sessions available and now up to 50% of that is level x. Ah well - all a moot point for the next month!

We were also competing in level x, my daughter swims in a competitive squad at her club but it’s the lowest competitive squad (they have three for her age group) - she absolutely loves it though and still tries her best, she swims six hours a week. She’s gutted about the enforced break, she took 7 and 8 seconds off her 100 free and back times respectively in the level x timed swim tonight and so to stop for a month on Thursday is disappointing - it takes them ages to regain their swim fitness !!

Really good pbs @Mumtofourandnomore - well done to your DD. 6 hours is what our National squad are swimming- went up from 4 5 in October. Our junior squad get 1 hour and the inbetween squads 2 to 5 hours. Very difficult to maintain swimming fitness on that. In March our National squad had 16 5 hours available but we have been told by the pool provider we won't be getting any more hours until at least next spring. I am glad my DS has moved to non competitive as I think he would be very depressed with his times!!!