Poolside Chat - parents of competitive swimmers continued

[Glittertwins]

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

@whereonthestair my DS has had similar sounding gala this weekend. 13 second PB in one event 6 seconds added to another and pretty much no movement in anything else. I dont even make comment anymore just ask if he's had a nice weekend and feed him.

Peaks and troughs are normal.

If he's had fun it's a win!

My ds is still recovering from his first distance training programme this week ending with yesterday's 3 hr, 10.4k set followed by an hours gym work 🤣
Although he's slightly worried about getting through their Monday morning LC set of 10 x 400's. 5 are free and 5 are IM 🫣

His British summer champs times are finally on world rankings too so he's a happy bunny!

Has everyone got winter regionals coming up? I know some counties do winters too but ours doesn't.
Also how do your regions do the qualifying? Ours have one set time for all ages but the competition is juniors and seniors. They have automatic times and consideration (base) times and a target number of swimmers for each event.
They are tough times too and quite similar to winter national qualifying times but not quite as hard 🤣

I can never quite tell how much fun DS has but then he keeps entering more competitions. Or asking me to enter him. We are lucky one of our pools is round the corner so we can often enter one race and not be out for very long which also suits as I think at the moment two events might be the optimal speed v exhaustion. I am less keen when the meet is a distance away, I hate driving though so that is also a factor.

Our county has winter regionals, by age group, but not if you are a para as DS is so despite having a para junior national time on age, he hasn’t got a regional multiclassification time. However If you get the qualifying time or para points you get in regardless of numbers.

Yes my ds is a para swimmer too and they have para swimming entry times for our regionals which again are not age related.

Looks like winter nationals is para points based for entry according to the conditions.

What classification is your ds? Para is so hard because you can only swim certain events at certain comps but they don't seem to keep the same criteria at the same events from the previous year! But at open meets they can swim what they like dependent on the entry conditions!

My ds is a freestyler. Targeting 400m free this year!

We have winter short course regionals coming up. They have qualifying times split by age up to about 14 or 15 then its just one qualifying time for everyone above that age. We don't have a winter counties but the other county in our region does so I always feel they have a bit of a jump on us at regionals especially as they are held at the same pool just before the regionals.

We don’t have winter counties. Winter regionals has juniors up to 15 and then seniors 16+, eldest just missed a junior qualifying time by 0.2

It seems a shame each county and region do it differently because swimmers have different opportunities but I'm guessing it's to do with size and number of swimmers in each area?

I'm south east region.

Our winter regionals are open age group so you're in or out. Strategic entries now done so only focusing on those for winter nationals even though he has other events that he's qualified for. Now only 0.04 off a winter national time - gradually shaving it down 0.03 per race

itsgettingweird my DS is currently an s6 but likely to go down as he grows and his legs become less useful. He is also affected in all other joints so currently scores nowhere higher than a 4 and I think that the 4 was a wrist. At the moment my DS is a backstroke, but we think in time he might end up doing breaststroke as his coach thinks he is more disabled than one of the adult swimmers we know who is an SB4 but who knows. If he went down far enough that might mean would do IM as he wouldn't need butterfly - which he can't currently swim - even if he would say he could he'd be wrong. Freestyle is comparatively weaker than backstroke or breast stroke (he currently swims backstroke as freestyle as his time is several seconds quicker in backstroke). Can I ask if you know anyone as an older para swimmer who does 400 freestyle in backstroke. I know a lot do who are the same aga as DS.

My ds doesn't score more than a 4 either. He's a 1 on his left foot 🤣🤣 2/3 most of his legs! He's NOT a backstroker as he just physically isn't made that way 🤣🤣

No I don't know anyone who does 400 free as backstroke. I'd be bloody impressed if they did!!!

Don't really know much about 400 free as an event. Think glitter and hello are.My ds always did it but he's only just started training for it as a distance this season after he did a good swim in summer meets.

From memory DS doesn't get anything higher than a two until we get to his arms and then he hits the heady heights of a 3 until I think his left wrist - but it might be his right one that gets a 4! He'd get more until he tries to move them together and then the wires get crossed (or the neural pathways do at least) and the numbers fall down. I think he got nothing for one foot. Its all so bizarre as in the rest of his life we concentrate on what he can do rather than what he can't. It is a bit like filling in the DLA form. But this way he gets to say to his abled bodied friends he does sport, just does it his way, and they all cheer him on in every combined meet he goes to (because he is always last, but has now got to he is competing against himself and a boy at the other end of the country in the same class albeit with a very different disability). swimming meets are one of the most inclusive events we go to and he gets to meet his heroes.

Yea I agree swimming an inclusive sport and it's becoming more so. The talent pathways are now integrated and for the first time winter nationals will be integrated this year.

It's also one of the few sports where because it's in the water everyone is competing in the same way iyswim?

Can I ask what your ds disability is? We know a few S6 swimmers but they are all short stature.

I have a 400m free swimmer but he's not para.

My son swims 400 free but he is also not a para swimmer and also generally doesn't have much of a clue what he's doing most of the time so I'm not sure I will be much help.

Itsgettingweird. DS has cerebral palsy. It affects all four limbs, plus coordination. So backstroke is easier for him because breathing is an extra step to add into the mix for muscle memory. He can neither stand nor sit to dive, nor tumble turn. However he doesn't tire that much over distance hence the question about 400 free as backstroke... obviously that is weird even in para competition then!

I thought it would be neuromuscular from your description of getting points (or not!). My ds has hereditary spastic paraplegia so does the same assessment.

I don't see why your ds can't do 400m freestyle as backstroke. No rules against it afaik. I've seen people do fly for freestyle just a shorter distance! It seems a long way to me but if he finds backstroke easier for him it probably isn't if he can swim 400m. I'm sure his coach knows the rules even if we don't 🤣

Freestyle is free of style. Can do what you want as long as you don't walk, pull on the lane rope, 15m max underwater and stay in lane. Can turn totally on your front, touch one handed if doing breaststroke or fly.

I’ve seen a GB swimmer do fly in a 200 Free event at nationals. Can only assume it was for practice or fun, if 200 fly can be fun.

We had an arsehole coach who every now and then would make the kids do what he called his “Olympic set” - 50 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 and 1500 of every stroke, including fly. Some kids ended up properly broken.

Yep, I've seen a breastroker race that stroke in the 200m free who needed the time for something or other. I guess that the coach arranged the pacing in the licensed meet.

But it won’t count as anything other than a free time though - it can’t be an accredited BRS time?

Correct, it can only be accepted as a freestyle time

Does anyone know when winter Nationals booking will open? Also if it'll be be on the home page of website like summer meets?

I just know when the qual times are from when I downloaded documents from the website

Yeah I can only find that it closes Nov 22nd but not when it opens 🤷‍♀️

We have para points to qualify rather than times.