Poolside Chat: parents of competitive swimmers

[2ducksandI]

Seems I managed to fill the other thread with talk of taking fridges to away galas! And I didnt even mean a fridge I meant an electric cool box So I've started another thread. Hope you all find it.

I can’t help myself, but there’s been talk about fridges for away meets on the FB group today

www.facebook.com/groups/354212322469703/permalink/613246713232928/

It’s quite a useful group if you’re not yet a member.
Search Swim Family UK incase the link doesn’t work

The thing to consider with plug-in cool boxes is that you may not be able to check into your hotel room until late, so it needs to survive a day without power in the car, and that you might need to wangle and extra room key card if it’s a set up where your keep makes the electricity works and you won’t be there all the time.

I took a normal Coleman cool box to a meet a few months ago, which will keep things cold for days if you pre-chill and use a few ice packs in it.

In-between cool boxes and drying racks and the 50000 towels packing for overnight galas is a nightmare! I'm being to understand why we have loads of campervans parked outside our big competition pools now

Thank you for the new thread - I've remembered to "watch" this one!

We bought a cheap electric coolbox from Aldi/Lidl a few years ago. We could only really use it when we were moving as it drained the battery quite a lot. Maybe freeze a pint of milk and pop that in to help it along.

For day meets I just pop one of those flat freezer packs into a lunchbox and freeze those very eco-unfriendly squeezy smoothie/yoghurt sachets. We also use a thermos food container, which works pretty well.

I hope Counties (or prep for Counties is going well for everybody). We've been far more picky about what to race so I am almost looking forward to it.

I've decided to go for a normal cool box (the amount I've learnt about cool boxes in the last 24 hours!) But one that says it keeps things cold for up to 4 days. We will see how we go with that.

I think that our current biggest counties fear is one of us getting Covid just before and them missing it! I’m also hoping my younger son doesn’t get too overwhelmed by it, he’s 10 and swimming 3 events, and has only ever done one open meet outside of races in their normal pool so potentially a bit daunting. He does have a guaranteed final though as there are so few qualified in his age group!

Okay, I volunteered. I’ve been brave! Haha. DS is there for two Sundays and I’m helping on the second of them. Also, because the practice went wrong (water wasn’t right), they’ve organised another practice this weekend, in preparation.

Well done on volunteering! It does make the time go much faster. What are you helping with?

Our club are hosting a gala this weekend and I am volunteering for both days, I honestly prefer it to spectating. Keeps you busy and we all try to make sure each other get to watch our own kids swim.

We just used to buy stuff the evening before and hang it out the hotel window overnight in a plastic bag. I was always officiating so no chance to nip out to the nearest shop.

Some teams managed to have team cool boxes for drinks / snacks.

I hope the volunteering goes well. It took me a couple of sessions as a warm-up marshall to make me realise that I am hopeless at standing still for any length of time! I'm more of a medals desk and front of house person if I have the choice.

DD starts on Sunday, having decided that she no longer does enough swim hours to justify doing the 800m or 1,500m.

Same - I don’t mind taking desk job but find marshalling totally draining. Especially if they’re covering the 50s.
It’s non stop, and I need a big tall drink afterwards

God, I did marshalling for 50s in a 10 lane pool that the meet refs had decided to run on 30 second heat intervals. I had just enough time to read out the names and send them down to the start end. We had 10 heats so 100 kids milling about in a tiny area for the first heat. Never again!

Recording is much easier, although it’s a bit hectic during warm ups getting start sheets prepped. At least you get a seat and someone brings you cups of tea.

Reading your replies has made me feel nervous. I don't know what I'll ge doing. She said she'll tell us if she finds out in advance! I'm worried that I'll send the wrong children to a lane or something. I'm a massive daydreamer as well, so I could zone out.

Don't panic, Helenjohanna. The children are pretty good at knowing what they need to do after the first heat or two. They will have all done open meets to get to your Counties and most will know what lane they are supposed to be in before they get anywhere near a marshall.

Counties marshaling should be fairly easy, those kids know the drill. I once did marshaling for a regional primary school gala and had a million tiny kids charging round asking if it was their race yet, and then totally vanishing when it was their turn. We had to run extra heats as so many missed races as they are young, the officals didn't want to give them a bad experience.

I once did marshaling for a regional primary school gala and had a million tiny kids charging round asking if it was their race yet, and then totally vanishing when it was their turn

😂😂😂

@Helenjohanna you’ll be fine. Everyone makes mistakes anyway. My favourite is pushing the wrong button on my stop watch 🤦🏻‍♀️

And the officials check they have the right swimmer in the right lane anyway.

@Helenjohanna dont panic, they usually out the newbies in the easiest jobs and if you dont feel confident they will probably let you shadow someone to learn the ropes.

Things often go awry and there usually a way around it. I remember on a 400 Free when the second finishing swimmer didn’t hit the timing pad hard enough and the timekeepers had been so busy chatting that they hadn’t kept count and so there there was no manual times or back up button time. There was about 15 seconds between the first and third swimmers so the referees just estimated a time.

And I learnt to always check that the nut was tight on the bell clapper for the 800/1500 Free, after one occasion when the whole thing fell apart whilst I was ringing it.

We did a sponsored 100 length swim a few years back. I suspect that many swam 98-102 lengths.

This is why I take money, hand out passes/medals and shout "your lane is a clockwise warm up, so down that side and back on this one!".

Good luck everyone! Hopefully we won't have any snowy days this year.

Our Counties starts for us next weekend. They have 800/1500s tonight but DS hasn't had enough practice at long races. I've done some volunteering in training sessions but always feel a bit intimidated by the large competitions!

Good luck all.

Good luck for counties everyone. We had our first big LC qualifying open gala this weekend. Been 2 years since the last one! It's going well and was a lovely calm and really positive environment without the parents/spectators interestingly. Lovely to hear all the 500+ kids cheering on their teammates.

Okay, I shall try to remain calm ;-)

The second attempt at a competition practice went well! Now DS knows what it's like to swim 50 metres without a break. He was the smallest and least experienced at this practice, but he handled it with great resilience and I'm very proud of him for that. I think he's the only one from his beginner squad participating. He didn't know anyone, but just got on with it. I'm sad that I can't watch him in the actual competition next weekend.

His diving is still poor. I wish they did it more in lessons, but he has missed a fee (in favour of parties, which always seem to be on Sunday afternoons !), so it could be that he's missed out on practice.

He’s earned his place through his swim times so he’s obviously a great swimmer regardless of his dives. He should relax and enjoy it. You too

Good luck