Poolside Chat - parents of competitive swimmers continued

[Glittertwins]

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

He is 13 but has been in this squad since 9 with covid break in the middle. They swim 5 two hour sessions and 3 land training sessions a week. I'm hoping now the head coach who came up with the 100% rule has gone they will be a bit more flexible.

We do have a squad where they can just attend the sessions they want to fit around other commitments but it is viewed by most of the kids and parents as a dumping ground for those who weren't good enough for the other squads which is a huge problem and it doesn't matter what the club do that view tends to remain.

I am also convinced he will make the paralympics 👍

Sorry I forget they get older and can't track their ages!!! Is the LT the same evenings as the swimming?

If so and there's morning training that should leave some time for another sport (and dropping a session leaves more)

I imagine the choice he'll have will be more about if he's ask to compete in a team sport and there's a gala the same weekend?

But I agree that if he loves the idea of waterpolo it's worth giving it a try. You don't ever sign up for life. Perhaps look to see if there's any camps during the summer holidays he can trial it at and make the decision for the beginning of next season.

I watch the water polo sometimes whilst waiting for ds. It always looks so much fun

Yes I know its hard to keep up with them all getting older I still get confused when looking at the results and I have to scroll past all the 9, 10, 11 and 12 year olds thinking I must have missed him.

The only completely free day he has is Sunday (except gala days) it would have been handy if the sport he wants to do trained on a LT only day bit no such luck.

How receptive would your coach be to a discussion about regularly dropping one session so that your DC can do a different sport? They may be OK with it if you spin it as something that could be complementary to swimming?

I'm hoping he would be ok with it as he only inherited the 100% attendance rule so hopefully he is a bit more flexible. I have sent an email testing the waters so we will see what happens.

Hellocats, you might find this article of interest:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/swimming/the-secret-to-swimming-faster-young-australian-swimmer-turning-to-radical-training-methods-20230614-p5dgms.html?utmmedium=Social&utmm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2yAbFbjMzy0qOVHdlhONDWTxYhLM5frR9AGHWHQWl9ABFXapUoPAzE68w#Echobox=1686806447

DD's club has £££ pool hire fees, so has had to cut right back on swim hours to retain members. The ones still doing well at Regionals are the ones who are doing athletics/other sports.

I don’t really know anything about waterpolo but it sounds like it would be good to try if he wants something a bit different. The 100% attendance rule sounds mad for a 9 year old with 10 hours a week - I thought it was meant to be good to keep other sports going at that age in terms of all round development, but it doesn’t leave much opportunity for anything else. Even at 13 surely 100% is never going to be realistic?

My boss's son is a national water polo player, it's brutal on the shoulders. He's coaching now instead because of that and he is late teens.
On the open water thing, we aren't doing regionals because he qualified for nationals via the pool times - I'm reasonably confident he'll be ok as he won the 3km race simulation but we'll just have to see how he goes.

The 100% sounds ridiculous to me it needs to be rounded.

We have had quite a few swimmers switch and 2 that currently also do water polo. They do swim training alongside so it must be helpful to be good at swimming.

100% attendance is ridiculous. We do nearly all the sessions but school comes first so exam season means dropped mornings for a good sleep and fresh for exams. If they're doing another sport then that can work with the swimming (as long as they don't get injured doing either one). Some coaches have stupid expectations.

Good evening campers!!!

Swim England have now released their first policy as part of their heart of aquatics work. It's in weighing athletes.

Thought I'd mention it as I know the conversation came up recently.

Yup, saw that yesterday too. Policy now, not guidance

Well thats us off to Open Water Nationals again. Really tough conditions at Regionals but he pulled a 2nd out of the bag somehow.

Wahoooo minihello 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

Hopefully that's given him a confidence boost.

Brilliant news well done 👏

Wondering if I can get some swimsuit advice. DD is 10, quite tall at 154cm. She needs new training costumes and also a new fastskin for competitions. Her current ones are 11-12 and up to 152cm. Everywhere I look the next size is 13-14 up to 164cm which is quite a way for her yet. I can't find anything in between - any advice?! Do I size up or down? Don't want to have her costumes uncomfortably tight but also aware that loose isn't good either. She's quite slim build if that helps

Well done!
See you at Rotherham then?

Yep we will be there, we will be the ones heading straight for the merch tent as typically pre orders ended before he even qualified! And its obviously all about the hoodie 🤣

In all honesty, a 10 year old does not need much more than an Arena 2.0, they are perfectly good enough.
You're best off going to a retailer that carries different brands and styles as girls bodies are so much harder to size for than boys with the different measurements around their bodies.
Don't get suckered into compression suits, they are not suitable pre-puberty

Yeah, pre-ordered ours a couple of weeks ago! Nice blue colour though

@Hellocatshome well done to him!
@Yuja i have boys rather than girls, but I wouldn’t worry too much about the age and height on the label and go by the fit. You definitely don’t want it loose. As Glittertwins said, it’s worth going somewhere you can try things. Speedo Junior LZR X are another one that is good for race suits for younger ones.

Yes another adding arena 2.0s fine at that age. And I'd add really until they get to a high level competing. But that's maybe because that's all ds owned until British last year! Then I brought him arena carbon airs.

He moved into Speedo intent this year but also has some Speedo Valors but only because they were free 🤣🤣

I was always told proper compression wasn't required until after puberty and until proper competing because you shouldn't wear them for a whole day meet which they do at level 2/3's.

Although with a muscle wasting condition in his legs the compression bit isn't easy to achieve 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣

As for training suits our girls all seem to be in Amanzi tie back ones which seem to work for all shapes and heights.

I'd go to a swim shop if you have one nearby or try them on at a meet with a swim shop visiting.

@Yuja personally I would size up, I don’t think a child of 10 being uncomfortable is going to help them at all. You don’t want it baggy but it won’t be. Plus she’s going to grow anyway. Arena 2.0 really do fit well.

At 10 funkita costumes are the most popular amongst the girls at our club. Some also have arena ones. The Amanzi ties tend to be the slightly older ones. The younger ones can find the ties annoying in my experience of girls.

I always just measure my two with a tape measure and compare to the sizing chart. Particularly if with her being so tall if the girls ones are too small this is helpful to try and work out which size to buy.

I’ve never had an issue with sizing when I’ve properly measured before ordering. When I’ve used guesswork I have however!