Poolside Chat - parents of competitive swimmers continued

[Glittertwins]

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

Not sure. It's his,coach who told him to aim for them. I just think it'll be a great experience if he can do it!

Realistically he's aiming for 2028.

We have 3 nationals times already in the bag for the favoured events at least. The other two are a whisker away on each but whether they get swum in December is another matter!

DS hasn't got a gala until next weekend not sure what level it is. He has a few winter regional times to try and get but I'm notniverly bothered if he doesnt get them as has 7 already. Our awards night is tomorrow which is always interesting in terms of club politics etc. I'm staying sober this year as there are some underlying tensions between a few different people and I dont want to get involved in anyway.

We've had a bit of a turbulent time too and I think tensions have now eased but I've got a little while before our club night at least. Probably a good idea to not drink although hopefully nothing will be said whilst the swimmers are close by

Swim politics always baffles me 🤣🤣🤣

I struggle with how over invested some parents get!!!!

I do wonder though if it's because ds started late (he was 12) and wasn't classified until 17 and so only became national level then. But I often wonder how parents get the obsession about the number of hours being swum and how to keep them motivated before they are even old enough to compete?!
<I exaggerate slightly but I do despair at that FB group 🤣>

Yes that FB group is another world.

I drop him at swim training, pick him up go to galas and shout encouragement to anyone and everyone wearing the club hat and then ask him if enjoyed himself. End of.

Luckily DS is also completely oblivious to any of the swim parent and even swimmer politics that goes on.

At the moment, we're at the pool a lot but that's not us pushing it, it's him. He's really enjoying it right now but he's had a freakishly good run of results which will eventually plateau so we'll see if the enthusiasm stays then.

He had an amazing summer champs. Glad it's hosted his confidence.

I don't drop and run. But that's because of distance.

Mornings we walk for an hour and then I chat to parents.

I also organised volunteers for our meets so sort that whilst he swims.

Tonight I was making a PowerPoint for screen for our meet this weekend and putting poolside passes in lanyards!!!

I do watch sometimes but my version of watching is generally reading emails, the news or chatting 🤣🤣

I've no issue with parents watching. It's thinking they can coach better than the coaches or worse still questioning why X is happening 3 days after a squad meeting where everything has been explained 🫣🤣

I'll support ds and his club all the way. But I'm his mum. I've no interest in being anything else!!!!

Neither of us don't drop and run really either because of distance too. I'll go for a walk for a bit but am back to see what he's up to or I'm poolside myself - breaks it up a bit!

That was really poor grammar!!

Oh don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind staying to watch but all that leads to at our club is getting your ear bent by one set of parents or another. Plus I only live five minutes from the pool.

I am on the committee and will try and support the club in anyway I can but getting involved in parent politics is definitely not for me.

And I definitely have to bite my tongue on that Facebook page when they all start asking how many hours an7 year old should be doing to be competitive and how they enter their 8 year old in galas the club isnt attending.

We have level 3 meet over the weekend. I think our club is more relaxed than most of yours by the sound of it. Swimming to me is a hobby, it keeps them fit, off their phones and gives them another set of friends. The vast majority there think the same.

My main focus over the last few weeks has been RAAC, dd1 has had to move to a different school. It’s been a stressful few weeks for sure.

That's Fb page is something else at times 🤣🤣🤣

Ours has 2 streams.

Performance for those who want to go to nationals etc and get times and competitive for those who want a more relaxed timetable with less pressure on attendance!

It works well and we have some swimmers who will swap to competitive over gcse years etc and then swap back and some who then go on to uni with swim teams.

We also have a fair few swimmers join us from local uni which is great for swimmers like ds who are older as he has a peer group in his squad.

Yes there does seem to have been a lot about overly pushed 7/8/9 year olds. Though maybe some clubs are to blame too if they are creating a culture of young ones doing lots of hours - there was something about an 8 year old in a regional squad doing massive hours - what is an 8 year old doing in a regional squad?! My two didn’t even start club swimming until they were 8 and 9. I thought there was some statistic about how few of the ones who are winning things at young ages are still the ones winning things by mid teens - I don’t see the point in pushing so hard when they are little.

We’re at a small club not a super competitive one, our top squad don’t have the training hours some of these very young ones seem to be doing elsewhere.

@Teateaandmoretea sorry about the school hassle, that sounds like a nightmare. Hope things have settled down a bit now

We also have two streams and we also follow the framework as to squad appropriateness for the age group too. Maybe some clubs need to communicate this better to parents so they understand the pathway? I think we need ro go through it again with our newer members as it was last done a while ago.
We may overall see less of a problem of parents entering their small ones into meets that clubs aren't attending due to the clampdown on TM and coach ratios on poolside. I've seen entries rejected where there was no appropriate coach numbers (fortunately it did work out on the number of swimmers per session rather than the number of entries as a whole).

Last year, during a clearout, I stumbled on the list of the 2018 County Pathway cohort (is that age 11 in year?). I knew a few from competitions, but more names disappear each year.

1 of the girls is still putting in the hours and getting into Nationals but at least half have stopped competing altogether.

Oh no. Does sound stressful. Hope she's managing ok?

I saw an interesting stat.

Something like of the top 100 swimmers at 10/11yo only 11% of those remain in top 100 by 17yo.

Quite stark. Does make you wonder about burnout, too much too soon and then quit when others catch up?

We do have the odd younger swimmer (9+) who trains 5 hours a week. But they aren't up in performance squads.

I've seen smaller clubs where 8/9yo are in regional squad. I guess with less swimmers you aren't as strict with your squad criteria?

We are a larger club. We have to be to keep squad numbers within how many swimmers can be in the pool at once!

That's interesting to know about age/squad appropriateness - I have 7 and 9yo club swimmers, and this has never been explained to us either. I'm in the early stages of being trained up as a coach too! Squads, as far as I know, are determined by skill at the lowest levels and speed at mid to upper levels. Can you give an outline of what you do at your club?
As it is for us, they were both trialled accepted at around 5.5yo, but initially they only do 1hr/wk. My 7yo still does 1hr, but I suspect will be moved up a squad to 2hrs after Xmas. My 9yo now does 3hrs, and this has been enough to get 2 county qualifying times for next year (the first time she'll have been eligible). She is highly unlikely to win anything, but it will be good experience to build on next year when she'll be in the same age category but have another 12 months of development. She is likely to be bumped up to 4.5hrs in the new year, which feels OK and still allows plenty of time to follow other interests.
There are a few nearly-10yos (same school year, but different birth year) who are already doing 6hrs and a 10yo who is on 8 club hrs plus a good many more with a parent on their own time. This seems horribly excessive, and I've had the same thoughts about how they are supposed to keep up the pace over the next 10 years.

(Hello, by the way! I have been silently following this group for an insight into what might be to come!)

We pretty much follow the OADF and you can find this on the Off the Blocks website.
The youngest ones/ need more teaching than coaching are usually ages 7-9 and at a certain level in the swimming lesson programmes. After age 9, they generally go to the next squad where it's more coaches rather than teaching. Depending on how they go they'll be split at around 10 into the more competitive route or leisure. It's flexible and swimmers can be moved over as and when they develop. Girls are usually moved up a squad earlier than boys as they are physically more developed.
The first competitive stream is for those with 2 or more county times in different strokes. There's the next level up which requires multi regional time for girls ages 13 and boys ages 14. The next move is for girls aged 14 and boys 15 into the higher squad which is again split - one route for those with regional times and one with national times.

@itsgettingweird - kids develop at different rates. Those who were big for their age dominated counties at ages10-13 here. Once others caught up more in size, they've gone straight past those early developers. I wonder how much is psychological and that whether the early developers couldn't reconcile that others had overtaken them? I can think of a few locally (so very anecdotal, not scientific!!) where this is showing

@itsgettingweird that’s the stat I was trying to think of.
@Glittertwins Anecdotally from swimmers my eldest knows, the ones who won medals at 11/12 who then struggle are the ones who don’t grow early, so get overtaken in the 13/14 age groups by the ones who already look like men at that age. Though maybe girls as they grow earlier would be different. I do agree some of it is psychological though, it is hard to feel that you are still doing as much as you can but not doing as well as you used to.

I can see my younger son being one of those (though obviously I hope he isn’t!), going into the 13s next year he is still small, and with neither the size or the training hours to compete I think he is going to struggle and then get frustrated.

@SkankingWombat hello!

@Eccle80 - I'm sure he be fine, this one was very small compared to his peers at 13

@Eccle80 my 13 year old is like a boy competing against men at the moment but his coaches tell him to just focus on technique and if he loses against someone who is about a foot taller than him so be it.