Poolside Chat - parents of competitive swimmers continued

[Glittertwins]

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

BS changed the whole competition calendar a few years back. My county champs used to be in April when I was an age group swimmer. Nationals were August time

A US scholarship is not to be sniffed at, Porseb. Well done to mini Porseb.

My (American, but like living in England) neighbours have some tennis-mad kids. Their aim has always been to get them over to US Unis on scholarships. The oldest is at a fairly unremarkable Uni (she's not academic), but they aren't paying a penny for her lodgings and fees.

I seem to remember Tom Dean saying he was turned down by US Unis, but his older sibling(s) weren't?

Does anyone know what level you need to be at to be looking at scholarships from US Unis? Are we talking medaling at Nationals type level?

That's great for DD @Porseb. Was that partly down to her move here?

There are different levels of competition but definitely more scholarship money in women's swimming than men's in US college swimming.

I'm happy to talk you through the process if interested.

Tom Dean's sister swam in the US college system. I suspect he would have received a lot of offers too but maybe turned them down in favour of staying within the British eco-system

Yes, her current swimming programme has been really good for her.

@Porseb thank you for the offer a bit early to be thinking about it for DS yet I was just idly wondering if it could be a potential route for him. Something to look at again in a few years maybe.

I would start considering or looking into it from the GCSE years. We probably started a bit late.

l’m new to this thread but looking for some advice. My daughter is nearly 6 and swims with Chelsea and Westminster Swimming Club. In her squad they are expected to train for an hour 2x per week. She’s only managed to stay in the pool for the full hour twice in the 3.5 months that she’s been in that squad. The main issue seems to be that she’s freezing cold after about 30 mins. She wears a shorty wetsuit but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Does anyone have any advice? Somehow it doesn’t seem to bother the other kids (although they are mostly a year older than her).

Great advice thank you.

I would speak to the coach as there isnt a lot more you can do about it that you haven't already (the wetsuit). I wouldn't worry too much about it though. DS didn't even learn to swim until he was 7.

Welcome ChessChair!

If Dolphin Square (Pimlico) ever re-open their pool I can recommend some great swim teachers.

6 is very young to be swimming a long time; especially if the pool is chilly (and a lot of places have dropped the temperature to save ££). Things ought to warm up shortly and she will not have to take as many rests (which is the bit that makes younger ones cold).

Maybe make sure that DC has eaten a small calorific snack before swimming.

Six is pretty young for 2 one sessions a week. If she's cold, it doesn't sound like she's moving fast enough or often enough to warm up. Is there a lot off hanging around in the water?

How old is he?

I believe the coaches can’t speak to or recruit athletes until they’ve done their GCSE’s.

before that though they can send emails/fill in the interest forms for colleges they think they might be interested in. Also set up an IG profile and follow coaches- post videos of swims, results, PB’s etc. we found a lot of the coaches followed back or followed of their own accord.

once ds had done GCSE’s he started getting quite a few emails from interested coaches. He followed up on a couple- one Ivy League as you can’t really say no to that 😂. He was actually all set for that one but then the coach changed and he didn’t click with the new one. He then disengaged for a while, figured a year out, but then facing a year living at home with no money being ignored by BS he got chatting to a swede who’s just gone out there, set him up to meet the coach, and now he has a standing offer to go whenever. Lots are going, especially girls we are finding.

@Porseb can you say where your Dd is going?

Agree with others.

At 6 you would imagine they are still learn to swim stage. Lots of handing around and it'll be cold because temps have been lowered due to costs.

If she's squad swimming already at her age the they should be moving enough to keep warm and perhaps she's just too young for that level currently and it's fine for her to do what she can manage.

My ds did t start swim club swimming until he was 11. Before that was half hour once a week!

@ChessChair also consider the wetsuit will be adding boyancy so isnt great really either for learn to swim or squad training technique wise although I can see why you have used it.

Yes, that’s exactly the problem. It’s a large group and they share 2 lanes so they stagger the kids and there’s a lot of hanging around. It was better over the Easter break when a lot of kids were in holiday but in my opinion they would be better off making the groups smaller and the lessons shorter.

I completely agree that 2x hour long sessions per week is bonkers at this age. She hasn’t been to the midweek session for over a month because it was too late and she was too tired. Instead she’s been doing a 30 min group stage 6 lesson with one of the leisure centre coaches instead. She much prefers the 30 min lesson.

Porseb that sounds amazing. Well done DD.

I know lots of current BS swimmers haven't followed programmes. Ben Proud doesn't. Hasn't seemed to hold him back. My neither trained with a girl who went to US but swam for GBR and held a world record until last year when someone beat it!

I think the reason they set up the ISL and now the AP racing is because lots of swimmers needed the opportunities to earn money and train elsewhere because I guess BS have limited funding and spaces?

Gawd knows what ds can do to reach his dreams if it isn't via BS as none of the alternatives include para swimming.

He's got to wait until next phase and new season as he's too old for SE programmes next season (there is the senior squad but it's 20 swimmers across everything) and his BTB funding lasts until next financial year but isn't guaranteed to continue or even be nominated again.

I'll be honest that I don't really know much about the elite level training and competition because ds was never involved.

Currently we are just being swept along by what's happening 🤣🤣🤦‍♀️

It would be too outing - but private message me and I'll tell you.

I think for Americans, coaches can't contact swimmers until something like 15 June in their Junior year but I think research should be done before that, setting up a SwimCloud account etc.

We have some great coaches at the Queen Mother and who knows when Dolphin Sq will be back open.

Thanks for the tip re a calorific snack before swimming. I’ll try that this week.

Yes, I realise that but I don’t have much of a choice sadly. Only the core is neoprene. The arms and legs are Lycra, so I don’t think it’s adding a huge amount of buoyancy.

Only 12 at the moment @Lastnamedidntstick hood advice about getting on social media and posting and following coaches etc.

Yes absolutely worth having his own instagram account.

So when he wins things like the regional open water he can be tagged by the region and you can post as well and # certain things. (Can you tell I have no idea how it works 🤦‍♀️🫣)

The two swimmers I know didn’t go Ivy League as they aren’t seen as top league swim teams (but obviously top league for academics).

One was offered a top women’s college but opted for a state uni with a higher ranked swim team. She may won nationals during her first year at a UK uni and moved to the US after that, her parents may well have been scouting for places beforehand though.

The other one was a very good club swimmer, medals at nationals, top 10 UK for preferred stroke / distance. I know they were definitely looking for US opportunities.

Ivies don't offer athletic scholarships so can be limiting as financial aid offered is based on parents' income.

But sport is a useful differential if Ivy is a target.