Poolside Chat - parents of competitive swimmers continued

[Glittertwins]

Getting a bit close to the end of the previous one!

Should have said May affect our swimmers.

They've had to order a part.

Basildon has been knackered since well before November too

We have similar issues with the book in my local pool too.

I wonder why these pools keep getting built when the same issues consistently crop up all over the country with the moveable boom. It's always a part that breaks and takes ages to source it.

Hope they can get High Wycombe fixed, I guess having the booms adds in more equipment that can go wrong. The Swansea one sounds like it will take weeks to fix.

I do understand that people want LC times, but equally don’t see what else Swim Wales could do when they found out 12 hours before that a second pool had problems, people are commenting saying they should have postponed, but I can’t see how that would be practical for a 4 day meet either, especially with no guarantee of when the pools will be fixed

I don't know the set up outside of England - we have the regionals so that LC times can be got for entry to summer nationals but does that apply in Wales?

No, for the swimmers at Welsh clubs this is the main opportunity in the window. There are meant to be a couple of level 1 open meets in May in Cardiff and Swansea, but given the pool problems I’m not sure what will happen with them either

Swansea was also due to hold a LC meet around the 12th May IIRC. So not sure if that will be able to go ahead either now.

We have a LC last chance Nat meet on 20/21st May. Although ds isn't entering. The fact we aren't running 50s because you qualify by the 100's seems lost of many parents who are complaining that we aren't! (Not our club parents)

In fact parents in general are begging for spaces in meets and all but offering to run it single handedly if their child gets a place.

It's like they don't realise that a) they have conditions that we have to stick to for the licence to be valid and b) we can't have 300 swimmers all doing a 100m free in one event.

I think a big part of it is that post covid last year many hadn't returned fully and qualifying times were relaxed and so things are back to how they were pre covid if you have child under 15 you've probably never really experienced the whole nationals/British bit like it's running this year.

It's a mess for everyone. I really can't see what choice SW has here - all they can do is put pressure on pool operators and then in turn onto maintenance and suppliers to get the pool sorted.

I'm not even sure if there's another LC pool they can transfer their LC meets to that is within a reasonable distance?

Too late for nationals though.

It with the rate LC pools with booms are breaking nationally this could become a big issue in the next few years. But SE and Bs are usually on top of all this so I hope they step in if needed.

So, we got to Cardiff and it is cancelled 😭
There is now an issue with the floor not being level so they can’t even run it short course. Going to be rescheduled long course but don’t know when

The next closest would be Bristol I guess, or Liverpool to the north (is that 50m?)

Oh no - that's awful

What's happening with those parents who had booked rooms in Swansea, then Cardiff

Nightmare ....

Yep complete nightmare. We booked a hotel in Swansea, managed to negotiate changing date on that even though it was non refundable, then booked Cardiff hotel for tonight, but past the cancellation time on that too. Luckily was only staying tonight

Oh no, just when things couldn't have got worse.

Came to day my dad messaged me to say it's cancelled.

So sorry for those who've lost money on hotels.

And for the swimmers who have tapered for the event and will now need to taper again.

They need to look long and hard at these 50m pools. They all seem to be troublesome

What a nightmare for the Welsh swimmers (and doubly so for the organisers)!

If they did end up having to move out of country, then Hengrove Pool in Bristol is a good set up and probably the most practical alternative. That said, the floor does have a habit of throwing a hissy fit (it's happened twice just before DD was waiting to get on the blocks). Swim SW use it for one weekend of Regionals. It is stuck a bit out of the way, though.

Bath Uni has also got a 50m pool BUT it really isn't set up for running competitions (it is as if the Uni/architects made sure that it would normally just be used as a training pool); marshalling would be a right pain.

Oh no, what a nightmare. I remember same happened to Leeds pool for a while, pre-Covid.

Hope those of you affected are offered some sort of alternatives pretty sharpish

We’re home again now, I feel pretty deflated so it must be even worse for the swimmers! They initially said postponed, but the latest update says they are refunding entry fees and looking to organise a level 1 meet in the window, so I guess as a national championship it is effectively cancelled. Not sure how they can sort anything out at short notice with uncertainty over both pools though, unless they do go use an English one.

It is such a shame.

Both our swimmers were back and at training this evening. Just feel so sad for everyone.

Especially because our swimmers kept their regional programme short because they were going to nationals.

Only advantage is we have a last chance Nat qualifier last weekend of window in May.

🤞 they sort something x

My two at least have regionals coming up as we’re at an English club, but even more tough on those at Welsh clubs who don’t have that

Absolutely

We are at SNAGs and I had the same questions about entry for bon Scottish residents. Very different pricing structure here for spectators. £3 / adult for heats, £1 for a child. For finals it is £5. After reading about the cost at the British last week I feel very lucky!

Clearly the hours poolside have impacted on my ability to type- non Scottish entries!

So we have jammers success with the next size up! Thank the lord! Only cost me £50 more and now they are pink instead of purple but DS says thats ok.

BUT for such expensive jammers I expected a little bag to keep them nice and safe in his swam bag. I'm sure you used to get them with the Arena jammers. So now that my next task 🙈

Yeah they come in a box!

I got an email today to say they've received the ones I returned. Refund on its way!